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Iran and its proxy groups have launched more than 600 attacks against US sites in Iraq since start of the American and Israeli war against Iran, a State Department official said on Tuesday.
The senior official also told reporters that the US wanted Iraq to clamp down on Iran-backed militias.
“The Iraqi leaders, including the prime minister-designate [Ali Al Zaidi], understand what the United States is looking for. We’re looking for action, not words,” the official told reporters.
The US has welcomed Mr Al Zaidi's nomination but made it clear that it expects any new leadership to take action against Iranian proxies.
“There is a very blurry line right now between the Iraqi state and these militias,” the official said.
The Iraqi government should “start with expelling terrorist militias from any state institution, cutting off their support from the Iraqi budget, denying salary payments to these militia fighters”, the official added.
“Those are the type of concrete actions that would give us confidence and say that there's a new mindset,” the official said.
President Donald Trump launched Operation Epic Fury on February 28 and a ceasefire has been in effect since April 7.
“We experienced more than 600 attacks against US facilities in Iraq during the regional conflict,” the official said.
The US embassy in Baghdad is running on a skeleton crew after most staff were evacuated. It has been attacked several times, along with a US site at the airport.
The official said certain elements of the Iraqi state have continued to provide political, financial and operational cover for “terrorist militias”.
“I'm not underestimating the severity of the challenge or what it would take to disentangle these relationships. It could start with a clear and unambiguous statement of policy that the terrorist militias are not part of the Iraqi state.”
