WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – On the day after Christmas, tensions are increasing between the US. and Iran.
The president ordered the United States military to strike back against Iranian-supported militants in Iraq.
The airstrikes were retaliation for a Christmas day drone attack on a U.S. air base in northern Iraq.
Three U.S. service members were hurt, one critically.
National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement:
“The President directed strikes against three locations…focused specifically on unmanned aerial drone activities.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the U.S. will not hesitate to, “take necessary action to defend the United States, our troops, and our interests.”
Iraqi officials say the U.S. attacks killed one militant and injured 18 others.
This comes at a time when the U.S. is trying to prevent the Israel-Hamas war from spreading beyond Gaza.
On Tuesday in Iraq, anti-U.S. protestors took to the streets in Baghdad and carried what they said was the body of the militant who was killed by U.S. jets, as protesters called the air strike a crime committed by America.
Iraq is an ally of the U.S and Iran. The U.S. has thousands of troops in Iraq to train Iraqi forces.
