The second-in-command of the Iraqi group Harakat al Nujaba has threatened to attack US targets in the Middle East if the US strikes “Iraqi groups,” according to Al Alam citing Baghdad al Youm on May 21. Nujaba answers to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
While Nasr al Shimri, the paramilitary group’s deputy secretary general, said the chances of a military conflict spilling into Iraq as a result of Iran-US tensions are low, he nonetheless warned that if “America attacks Iraqi groups or targets for the excuse that they are tied to Iran, [this action] would have bad consequences…even for countries from which [American] missiles are launched.”
“If America targets Iraqi groups,” Shimri continued, “all American bases and targets in the region will be targeted by us.” He vowed that “America would be the big loser.”
Nujaba’s threat comes as the US – following a May 19 rocket attack against the US embassy in Baghdad – warned that it would “hold Iran responsible if any such attacks are conducted by its proxy militia forces.”
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