Iran is responsible for a recent drone attack killing three US soldiers in Jordan near the Syrian border, a Pentagon spokesperson said Monday.
“We hold Iran responsible, as they are supporting these groups. These groups that continue to inflict casualties on our forces, whether it be in Jordan, Iraq or Syria,” said Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh at a news briefing.
“We absolutely hold Iran responsible because we know that they fund and train and support and equip these militias that operate in Iraq and Syria,” Singh added.
Her remarks came after three US service members — Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett — were killed and many wounded during an unmanned aerial drone attack on US forces stationed in northeast Jordan near the Syrian border.
Singh said the US still assessing what happened and how a one-way attack drone was able to impact the facility.
“We do know that Iran-backed militias are responsible for continued attacks on US forces in the region.
“As the President (Joe Biden) and (Defense) Secretary (Lloyd Austin) have stated, we will not tolerate continued attacks on American forces and we will take all necessary actions to defend US military men and women forward deployed, and we will do so at a time and place of our choosing,” she added.
A group calling itself the Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed responsibility for the attack.
Sunday’s attack is considered one of the deadliest recent attacks on American troops in the Middle East.
– ‘We don’t seek war with Iran’
Asked whether Iranian leaders coordinated the attack, Singh said: “I don’t have more to share in terms of an intelligence assessment on if leaders in Iran were directing this attack, but what I can tell you is that we know these groups are supported by Iran, and therefore they do have their fingerprints on this. But I can’t tell you more in terms of who directed the attack.”
The US does not want to see a widening of the conflict, she stressed.
“We don’t seek a war with Iran. We don’t seek to widen this conflict…and frankly, we don’t see Iran wanting to seek a war with the United States,” Singh said.
US forces have been attacked approximately 165 times — 66 in Iraq, 98 in Syria and one in Jordan — since Oct. 17, she said.
“On injuries, I am tracking that approximately 80 US personnel have received non-serious injuries since the attacks began,” she added.
Since the Israeli army launched intensified attacks on the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, US military bases in Syria and Iraq have been targeted with drones and rockets, particularly Al Tanf Garrison in Syria as well as bases in the town of Al-Malikiyah near the Iraqi border, the city of Al-Shaddadi in Al-Hasakah Governorate and Deir ez-Zor province.
On Gaza, Singh said the US is in contact with Israel on the protection of innocent lives and the need to open humanitarian corridors for aid delivery.
“Of course, we’re concerned by the death toll in Gaza. We don’t want to see Palestinians continuing to get caught in the crossfire. And we’ve continued to urge Israel to protect those innocent civilians and we’ll continue to do so,” Singh said.
Israel launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7, killing at least 26,637 Palestinians and injuring 65,387. Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.