Drone, Rocket Attacks Targeted US Forces In Iraq - US Officials

Even when he is silent, his political rivals want to make him say something, hoping that he might shoot himself in the foot by making an odd or controversial comment that would put an end to his turbulent political career.

Conservative journalist Afifeh Abedi in an April 17 tweet quoted Ahmadinejad as having said on social media that "Any country which illegally attacks another should be responded to. That is a right for the country whose territory has been violated." This was clearly a reference to Iran’s April 13 massive missile and drone attack on Israel in response to an airstrike earlier in the month that destroyed a building within the compound of Tehran’s embassy in Damascus.

Abedi charged that "Ahmadinejad's remark reflected his ambitions in Iran's domestic politics rather than being aimed at foreign audiences." Nonetheless, Abdi criticized Ahmadinejad for acknowledging that Israel is a state.

This is one of those controversial comments that everyone in Iran can interpret to serve their political interests. Some, like Ms. Abedi, might believe Ahmadinejad was referring to Iran's unlawful attack on Israel, while others might take it as support for Iran after Israel attacked the Iranian Consulate in Damascus on April 1, and Iran's attack was a retaliation for that.

Even Ahmadinejad's former aide Abdolreza Davari was not quite clear about what Ahmadinejad meant. He asked in a tweet: "Did he condemn Iran or Israel?" On the other hand, conservative journalist Amir Seyediin said in a tweet that "No President anywhere in the world has served Israel’s interests the way Ahmadinejad has done."

Some hardliner social media users lashed out at the former President for failing to condemn Israel for attacking Iran's Consulate in Damascus in the first place and charged that Ahmadinejad had created big problems for Iranians for denying the holocaust during his presidency.

However, some foreign-based media quoted Ahmadinejad as having said in his Telegram channel that "attacking Israel was a right for Iran," possibly to avoid Khamenei’s wrath.

In a tweet on April 16 reformist cleric Rahmatollah Bigdeli called for Ahmadinejad's dismissal from the Expediency Council, a sort of higher parliamentary chamber with members appointed by the Supreme Leader, who intervene in Iran's domestic political and economic issues where the parliament and the government cannot reach a final agreement on an issue.

Bigdeli wrote: "It is essential to remove Ahmadinejad from the Expediency Council as there is an open case against him at the court about oil swap with other countries," that allegedly happened during his presidency. Bigdeli further questioned the way he was elected President in 2005 and 2009 and charged that his slogan about wiping Israel off the map created too many problems for Iran.

Bigdeli further charged that Ahmadinejad has not condemned the Israeli attack on the Iranian Consulate that killed seven top IRGC officers, and has refused to support Iran's attack on Israel. "How can such a creature be a member of the Expediency Council?" Bigdeli asked. He also called on Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei to start Ahmadinejad's trial as he has repeatedly promised in the past.

Many other Iranian politicians have been calling for Ahmadinejad’s trial and his removal from the Expediency Council after he openly criticized Khamenei in 2018. Nonetheless, he somehow managed to keep his seat at the influential council.

However, Twitter users posted a photo that showed Ahmadinejad at the Expediency Council meeting on April 17.

On January 30, following several months of sustained attacks against American troops in Iraq and Syria, the Shiite militia group Kataeb Hezbollah announced they would halt their strikes to “prevent embarrassment of the Iraqi government.” That announcement came after large US retaliatory air strikes targeting Iranian proxy forces in the region.

Sunday's attack was reportedly followed by at least one armed drone launched at the Ain al-Asad air base that hosting US troops in the western Iraqi province of Anbar, a US official told Reuters on Monday.

That January statement about halting attacks had withstood the test of time until Sunday night when five rockets were launched from Iraq's town of Zummar towards a US military base in northeastern Syria.

Shortly after the attack, a post appeared on the Telegram group affiliated with Kataeb Hezbollah, seemingly alluding to Sunday night’s rocket attacks, and stating that the armed groups’ in Iraq had decided to resume attacks because they felt the Iraqi government had failed to deliver a deal to end the US military presence in the country.

“Iraqi resistance gave Iraq’s prime minister three months to negotiate with the American forces to come up with a specific timetable for their removal from Iraq,” the post on the Kataeb-affiliated Telegram channel. “But now… It’s become clear that some political parties were lying: there is no foreign intention to leave Iraq.” Hence the decision “to resume military action.”

The “military action” (and the Telegram statement) came only one day after Iraq’s prime minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani returned from Washington, where he had met President Joe Biden and other US officials to advance the plans for the Americans’ withdrawal from Iraq.

Not long after, Sabereen News, another popular Telegram group affiliated by Iran and its proxies, issued a statement denying that Kataeb Hezbollah had released a statement. Another Iran-affiliated outlet, Al Mayadeen, seconded the denial.

“The news attributed to the Islamic Resistance in Iraq regarding the resumption of its operations against US forces is false,” Al Mayadeen quoted its Baghdad correspondent. ”Iraqi Kataib Hezbollah Brigades has not issued any statement regarding this matter.” In another statement issued on the Telegram messaging app, the group said the resumption of attacks is "fabricated news".

It’s hard to tell with certainty which statement is true. Perhaps both. The difference could be intentional to create confusion, or it could be a sign of real clash within the groups’ rank and file.

Iran may also have a hand in all this: nudging its proxies to resume attacks on American forces in Iraq and Syria in order to pressure President Biden to dissuade the Israeli government from targeting Iran-backed militias in Syria and Iraq.

On Saturday –less than a day after the Israeli airstrike against Iran’s S-300 defense system near Isfahan– another round of airstrikes hit the headquarters and a major base of Iran-backed militias Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces) in Babylon, south of Baghdad.

No one claimed responsibility for the overnight attack on Hashd al-Shaabi US military rejected claims that it had a part in the operation. Citing an unnamed Israeli official, CNN reported that Israel also denied involvement in the incident.

Not enough is known about the incident to help draw definite conclusions about its source. One thing can be said with a reasonable degree of certainty, however: that “a vast network of hybrid warfare is currently underway between Israel and Iran and its proxies in the region,” according to UAE-based analyst Masoud Aflak.

Updated at 15:00 GMT, April 22

According to reports from Iran's state-run Khorasan newspaper, the cost of essential food items has skyrocketed since the beginning of the Iranian New Year in March 2024, coinciding with the month of Ramadan. Beans have seen a staggering 30% increase in price, while red meat prices have surged by 25%. Additionally, summer foods have seen a remarkable 50% hike, with rice and several other items following suit with increases ranging from 10% to 15%.

Earlier in April, in an interview with so-called reformist news site Entekhab, Reza Kangari, the head of the Tehran Provincial Union of Food Banks, also highlighted the recent significant rise in food prices. Kangari stated that “some food items have seen a 30% rise" and attributed the rise to the depreciation of the rial, supply shortages, and subsequent price gouging.

The root cause of this alarming price surge lies in Iran's faltering economy, exacerbated by the continuous devaluation of the Iranian rial. The rial has continuously fallen since the inception of the Islamic Republic in 1979, but it turned into a steep fall in 2018 when the United States withdrew from the JCPOA nuclear deal, demanding its revision. Oil export sanctions and international banking restrictions imposed by the Trump administration badly hurt Iran’s oil-dependent economy.

The Iranian rial has witnessed a sharp decline, losing over 30% of its value against major currencies since the onset of January this year. Additionally, following Iran's military and drone attack on Israel on April 13, the rial experienced an unprecedented downfall, with the dollar surpassing the 700,000-rial threshold.

Furthermore, Iran's economy has been besieged by a prolonged period of high inflation, with rates surpassing 40% for the past five years. Additionally, Iran's substantial state debt and liquidity challenges contributed to the devaluation of the rial. This devaluation has had a cascading effect on the prices of essential food items. Since President Ebrahim Raisi assumed office in August 2021, Iran's liquidity has almost doubled, fueling rampant inflation that surged to 47% in the last fiscal year.

Despite the government's recent announcement of being committed to addressing the issue of food security, the relentless upward trajectory of food prices has only served to compound the economic woes faced by ordinary Iranians, pushing many further into financial precarity.

In the lead-up to Norouz, Iranian New Year on 20 March, according to messages received by Iran International Iranians lamented a sharp decline in their purchasing power, with essentials like rice, red meat, and dairy vanishing from household budgets.

While external factors such as US sanctions undoubtedly play a significant role in Iran's economic challenges, domestic policies and priorities also come under scrutiny.

For instance, sanctions resulted in a significant decrease in Iran-India trade, plummeting by as much as a third. Rice, which constitutes the primary export from India to Iran, saw a sharp decline of 34%, falling from $2 billion in 2022 to $723 million in 2023.

The consistent reluctance of Iran's leadership, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to address fundamental problems such as the nuclear issue has exacerbated the country's economic isolation and hindered efforts to alleviate the plight of its citizens.

As economic woes deepen with soaring food prices, Iranian citizens face dwindling options and rising prices, painting a bleak picture ahead.

The attack against US forces is the first since early February when Iranian-backed groups in Iraq stopped their attacks against US troops.

The attack comes one day after Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani returned from a visit to the United States and met with President Joe Biden at the White House.

Two security sources and a senior army officer said a rocket launcher fixed on the back of a small truck had been parked in Zummar border town with Syria.

The military official said the truck caught fire with an explosion from unfired rockets at the same time as warplanes were in the sky.

"We can't confirm that the truck was bombed by US warplanes unless we investigate it," said a military official on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the incident.

Iraqi security forces were deployed in the area and launched a hunt for the perpetrators who fled the area using another vehicle, said a security official who is based in the town of Zummar.

The Iraqi Security Medica Cell, an official body responsible for disseminating security information, said in a statement that Iraqi forces had launched "a wide-ranging search and inspection operation" targeting the perpetrators near the Syrian border, pledging to bring them to justice.

An army officer said the truck was seized for further investigation and initial investigation shows that it was destroyed by an air strike.

"We are communicating with the coalition forces in Iraq to share information on this attack," the officer added.

A day earlier an apparent air strike hit a base of the pro-Iran Hashd al-Shaabi armed militia group causing major explosion.

In a meeting with high-ranking military commanders on Sunday, he discussed the recent military clashes between Iran and Israel, making his first public remarks since the escalation of hostilities.

During his speech, Khamenei referred to the large-scale attack by the Revolutionary Guards, in which the Guards fired 185 drones, 36 cruise missiles, and 110 ground-to-ground basilic missiles at a military base in southern Israel. Despite the extensive assault, Israeli officials have reported only limited damage, claiming that 99 percent of the projectiles were intercepted.

"The issue of the number of missiles fired or that hit the target, which the other side is focused on, is a secondary matter. The main issue is the demonstration of the will of the Iranian nation and the armed forces on the international stage," Khamenei stated. His remarks can be seen as an implicit admission of the limited effectiveness of the strikes.

According to the Iranian regime, the April 13 assault was in retaliation for an attack on Iran's consulate in Damascus, an act for which Israel has not claimed responsibility. After Iran’s attack, Israel targeted the radar system and the S-300 air defense system at the Eighth Shekari Air Base in Isfahan on Friday, as confirmed by satellite images.

In his address, Khamenei also highlighted the need for innovation in military tactics and weaponry, urging the generals to understand enemy strategies. His comments come as the US and the UK have imposed new sanctions against Iran's drone program and military figures, reflecting ongoing international concerns.

Moreover, during a recent summit in Capri, Italy, the G7 foreign ministers expressed their readiness to further sanction Tehran to mitigate its destabilizing activities in the region.