Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin puts Iran on notice after Iraq attack

The United States will “do what’s necessary” to defend itself, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said yestderday, days after rockets hit an Iraqi base hosting coalition troops, further escalating US-Iran tensions on Iraqi soil.

Austin told ABC News that the US is still “developing intelligence” on who was behind the attack, which saw around 10 rockets slam into the sprawling Ain Al Assad military base in Iraq’s western desert on March 3.

Austin said Washington was urging Iraqi authorities to move quickly to investigate who was behind the attack, the fourth in recent weeks targeting locations where US forces operate.

“We want to make sure that again, we understand who’s responsible for this. The message to those who would carry out such an attack is you know expect us to do what’s necessary to defend ourselves,” he said on ABC News’ “This Week.”

“We’ll strike if that’s what we think we need to do at a time and place of our own choosing.” Wednesday’s attack came five days after the US retaliated to earlier assaults, bombing a border depot in Syria which the Pentagon said was used by Iran-backed Iraqi armed militia that have been tied to the rocket attacks. Austin was asked if Iran had been given the message that any further retaliation was not an escalation. “I think Iran is — is fully capable of assessing, you know, the strike and our activities and they’ll draw their own conclusions,” he said.

“But what they should draw from this again is that we’re going to defend our troops and our response will be thoughtful, it will be appropriate. We would hope that they would choose to do the right things.”

US-Saudi ties to be good but ‘different’

Relations with Saudi Arabia will remain good, Austin said. “It will be a good relationship, but it will be a bit different,” Austin said.

“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.”