In an apparent indication that Baghdad is determined to avoid getting sucked into a U.S.-Iran escalation, Iraq's military issued a rare condemnation of the U.S. "Certainly what the United States is doing is disrupting security in the region, and one of the victims of this disruption will be the United States," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Monday. Iran called on the United States to avoid "creating crisis" in the region. The decision to retaliate appears to show how Biden aims to compartmentalize such defensive strikes, while simultaneously engaging Tehran in diplomacy.īiden's critics say Iran cannot be trusted and point to the drone attacks as further evidence that Iran and its proxies will never accept a U.S. The strikes came even as Biden's administration is looking to potentially revive a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. personnel," the Pentagon said in a statement. "As demonstrated by this evening's strikes, President Biden has been clear that he will act to protect U.S. Biden last ordered limited strikes in Syria in February, that time in response to rocket attacks in Iraq. The strikes came at the direction of President Joe Biden, the second time he has ordered retaliatory strikes against Iran-backed militia since taking office five months ago.