United States Defense Chief Puts Iran on Notice After Iraq Rocket Attack

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, the U.S will respond as appropriate to a rocket attack last week on an airbase hosting U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq.

While he stopped short of assigning blame on ABC’s This Week, an earlier rocket incident prompted U.S. air strikes against Iranian-backed fighters in Syria in February.

Austin said, we’re still developing the intelligence on the latest attack. Iran should know that we’re going to defend our troops and our response will be thoughtful, it will be appropriate. We’ll strike, if that’s what we think we need to do, at a time and place of our own choosing.

Austin said relations with Saudi Arabia, Iran’s main regional adversary, will remain good, even after the U.S. published an intelligence report accusing the country’s crown prince of approving the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. It will be a good relationship, but it will be a bit different. But I think just because you have a good strategic relationship with an ally or partner, it doesn’t mean that you can’t hold them accountable for various things.