Washington has ordered all non-emergency government workers to immediately leave Iran’s Western neighbor, Iraq. A U.S. State Department spokesperson said, “the withdrawal was based on a security assessment” – which according to Pentagon sources ‘intelligence reports suggest that Iranian-backed militias in Iraq (which follow the directives of the IRGC’s Quds Force) have deployed rockets near bases housing U.S. forces.’
Fearing an imminent escalation, Iraqi officials have urged the Iranian-backed militias, specifically “the Popular Mobilization forces” – “al-Hashd Ash-Sha’abi” in Arabic – to refrain from taking any action that could provoke American retaliation. According to senior member of Iraq’s National Security Council Sayed al-Jayashi, over the course of “The last two days there have been continuous meetings with all the groups to convey the Iraqi government’s message that if anyone does something, it is their responsibility, not Iraq’s.” Al-Jayashi further underscored that “The Iraqi government is responsible for protecting American interests in Iraq,” and as such “(Baghdad) will become the enemy of anyone who does something against (U.S) interest.”