“As for these particular attacks, again, we haven’t gotten into specific attribution. So I don’t want to get ahead of the investigative process,” Kirby said when asked during a press briefing about Iran’s possible involvement.
Earlier on Monday, the Iraqi military said two rockets hit Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, where foreign embassies including the US diplomatic mission are housed, without causing casualties. Another projectile struck the nearby residential Al-Harithiya neighborhood, resulting in limited material damage.
On Monday, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price also said that the US is still working to determine who is responsible for the rocket attack in the Iraqi city of Erbil. On 15 February, a dozen rockets hit the Erbil Air Base in Iraqi Kurdistan, killing a civilian contractor and hurting nine other people. A Shiite militant group reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack.
Price went on to say that the Biden administration will avoid lashing out in response to the recent rocket attacks to avoid the risk of causing an escalation that will destabilize Iraq.
"When it comes to the attack in Erbil, I would just add that we are still determining precise attribution, but we have stated before that we will hold Iran responsible for the actions of its proxies that attack Americans," Price said during a press briefing.
Price also said the recent rocket attacks, including the latest attack on Monday, outraged the United States, and added that broadly speaking, many of the rocket attacks use Iranian-supplied weapons.
