Biden Has Lowered the Threshold for U.S. Airstrikes on Iraq and Syria

July 3, 2021 (EIRNS)—The Washington Post, in an analysis published on July 1, came to the conclusion that what the Biden Administration has done with regard to not only the June 27 airstrikes on Iraq and Syria, but also its first strikes in Iraq and Syria in February, is lowering the bar for retaliation below that of the Trump Administration. According to the Post, the rules of engagement in effect under President Donald Trump called for lethal retaliation in the event that U.S. personnel were killed in an attack. Now, the policy is for deadly retaliation, regardless of whether there are any U.S. casualties. “We have a responsibility to demonstrate that attacking Americans carries consequences, and that is true whether or not those attacks inflict casualties,” an unnamed senior administration official told the Post.

The Iranians are rejecting U.S. claims that Iran is behind the recent armed attacks on the U.S. military in Iraq. Iranian Ambassador to the UN Majid Takht Ravanchi went so far as to charge that the U.S. actions were a violation of the UN Charter. “Iran condemns, in the strongest terms, such unlawful acts which violate the sovereignty of two regional countries,” he said in a letter to UN Security Council President Nicolas de Rivière of France. “I am writing to you regarding the letter dated 29 June 2021 from the Permanent Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council, in which, once again, unsubstantiated allegations were levelled against the Islamic Republic of Iran on supporting the so-called militia groups in Iraq,” Tasnim quoted Takht Ravanchi as saying.

Takht Ravanchi denied that Iran was behind any armed attack on the U.S. military in Iraq, and went on to denounce what he called the arbitrary interpretation of the UN Charter’s Article 51, on the right to self-defense.

“The argument of the United States that such attacks were conducted to deter the Islamic Republic of Iran and the so-called Iran-backed militia groups from conducting or supporting further attacks on United States personnel or facilities, has no factual or legal ground, as it is founded on mere fabrication, as well as arbitrary interpretation of Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations,”

he said. “The attacks by the United States are conducted in flagrant violation of international law, particularly Article 2(4) of the Charter of the United Nations,” he stated in his letter.