U.S. defense chief puts Iran on notice after attack in Iraq

WASHINGTON — The U.S. will respond as appropriate to a rocket attack last week on an air base hosting U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Sunday.

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

“We’re still developing the intelligence” on the latest attack, Austin said in his first network interview as defense chief. 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,” he said.

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,” 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.”

While President Joe Biden’s administration imposed sanctions on a range of Saudi officials, he declined to sanction Prince Mohammed bin Salman personally, drawing criticism from Democratic lawmakers. The balancing act reflects Saudi Arabia’s role as a U.S. ally.

Saudi Arabia “is a strategic partner in the region” and the two countries “have to work together to make sure that that we achieve our goals and objectives,” Austin said. “We’re going to lead with our values, but we’re going to protect our interests.”

Austin directed sharper comments at China, which he said is “trying to close the competitive edge that we’ve always enjoyed” with its military buildup.

“In some cases, they’ve been coercive and some of that coercion has been directed against our allies, and our allies are very important to us,” he said.

Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken plan to visit Japan and South Korea in March, Reuters reported last week.

AIR WARNINGS

Meanwhile, a pair of B-52 bombers flew over the Mideast on Sunday, the latest such mission in the region aimed at warning Iran amid tensions between Washington and Tehran.

The flight by the two heavy bombers came as a pro-Iran satellite channel based in Beirut broadcast Iranian military drone footage of an Israeli ship hit by a mysterious explosion last month in the Mideast. While the channel sought to say Iran wasn’t involved, Israel has blamed Tehran.

The U.S. military’s Central Command said the two B-52s flew over the region accompanied by military aircraft from nations including Israel, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. It marked the fourth such bomber deployment into the Mideast this year and the second under Biden.

Flight-tracking data showed the two B-52s flew out of Minot Air Base in North Dakota.

The military did not mention Iran in its statement, saying the flight was to “deter aggression and reassure partners and allies of the U.S. military’s commitment to security in the region.”

“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.” — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin

STEPPING UP

Also Sunday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said his country was prepared to take steps to live up to measures in the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers as soon as the United States lifts economic sanctions on Iran.

In a meeting with Irish Minister of Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney, Rouhani said: “Iran is ready to immediately take compensatory measures based on the nuclear deal and fulfill its commitments just after the U.S. illegal sanctions are lifted and it abandons its policy of threats and pressure.”

Rouhani criticized the European signatories of the historic nuclear deal for what he said was their inaction on their commitments. He said Iran is the only country that kept its side of the bargain.

Former President Donald Trump in 2018 unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from the accord, in which Tehran had agreed to limit its uranium enrichment in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. When the U.S. then reimposed some sanctions and added others, Iran gradually and publicly abandoned the deal’s limits on its nuclear development.