The Islamic Resistance in Iraq was behind the drone strike that killed three American troops at an installation in Jordan, U.S. officials said Wednesday.
President Biden had previously blamed “radical Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq” for the strike. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq is an umbrella organization for such militias in Iran’s western neighbor.
U.S. Army Reserve soldiers Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24; Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46; and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23, were killed in the attack early Sunday morning.
Biden vowed to “hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner of our choosing.” Global political experts consider a direct strike on Iran to be unlikely.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday that any response would include multiple parts, explaining that “the first thing you see won’t be the last thing” and “it won’t be a one-off.”
Biden and other national leaders have said don’t want to expand the tense Middle Eastern conflict or the American role in it. The U.S. Navy is already patrolling the Red Sea and defending commercial ships from the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Additionally, the U.S. has launched multiple airstrikes on Yemeni soil, including more on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Iran has denied any responsibility for the deadly attack on Tower 22 in the far northeast corner of Jordan.
“The Islamic Republic would decisively respond to any attack on the county, its interests and nationals under any pretexts,” Iranian Ambassador the United Nations Amir Saeid Iravani told the state-run IRNA news agency.
Al Jazeera reported that the U.S. and Iran had engaged in backchannel talks since the strike, but Iravani denied that any conversations had happened.
With News Wire Services
