“I deeply apologize for the error and I regret any confusion that it caused. It was based on information we had or that was provided to me in those early hours after the strikes. Turns out that information was incorrect and I certainly regret the error and I hope that you'll understand there was no ill intent behind it, no deliberate intent to deceive or to be wrong,” Kirby said at a press briefing.
A State Department spokesperson had clarified on Monday that Iraqi officials were only informed after the strikes were launched. The US launched airstrikes against 85 targets in Iraq and Syria on Friday believed to be linked to Iran, in retaliation for a drone attack in Jordan that killed three US service personnel.
Kirby also acknowledged his error on Monday.
Earlier, Pentagon Press Secretary Pat Ryder said that the US decided not to give Baghdad advance warning of its recent strikes on Iraqi territory in order to protect American forces in the country.
On February 2, he US Central Command said that the United States conducted its first retaliatory strikes against 85 targets allegedly linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force and affiliated militia groups in Iraq and Syria by using B1 strategic bombers and 125 precision munitions within about 30 minutes. Joint Chiefs of Staff Director of Operations Douglas Sims said that the US struck three adversary facilities in Iraq and four in Syria.
In late January, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) three US soldiers were killed in a drone attack at a US military base in Jordan's northeast near the border with Syria. Jordanian cabinet spokesman Muhannad Mubaidin said that the strike targeted the US's Al-Tanf base in Syria, not a base on Jordanian territory.
US President Joe Biden pinned the blame on unspecified Iran-backed militant groups, while also saying the US was still gathering the facts. Iran has denied playing any role in the attack and insisted that resistance groups in the Middle East do not receive any instructions from Tehran.
Both Iraq and Syria condemned the US strikes on their territory, and the Iraqi parliament's Security and Defense Committee called for the quick signing of an agreement on the withdrawal of the international coalition troops from the country.