Esper says Iran may be planning more attacks on US interests

The U.S. has indications that more Iranian provocations may be in the offing. If that happens, the U.S. will take action preemptively, if it has enough warning.

Washington: Iran or its proxy forces may be planning further strikes on American interests in the Middle East, and the U.S. is prepared to take preemptive military action if it gets sufficient warning, defence secretary Mark Esper said on Thursday.

“The game has changed,” Esper said citing a series of violent attacks on U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq in recent months by Iran-supported militia groups. “We're prepared to do what is necessary to defend our personnel and our interests and our partners in the region.”

An Iraqi police officer instructs a bulldozer while Iraqi security forces remove cement blocks and opened the streets, that were closed for security concerns, around the Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq, on Thursday.

On Tuesday, after a crowd of Iran-backed militiamen and their supporters stormed the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad, the Pentagon sent a Marine quick-reaction force to the embassy, and later it dispatched several hundred Army paratroopers from Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The paratroopers are in Kuwait as what Esper called defensive support.

This Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2020, image provided by Maxar Technologies shows black smoke coming out of the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad.

Without providing details, Esper told that the U.S. has indications that more Iranian provocations may be in the offing. If that happens, he said, the U.S. will take action preemptively, if it has enough warning.

A woman passes by Iraqi security forces while they remove cement blocks and open the streets, that were closed for security concerns, around the Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq, on Thursday.

Speaking alongside Esper, Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said that if any group makes another attempt to overrun the embassy it will run into a buzzsaw.