GOP Sens Urge Accountability for Attacks on US Troops

A group of GOP senators is urging Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen to hold terrorist groups linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) accountable for attacks on U.S. service members.

"In recent months, these Iraq-based terror groups reportedly murdered a U.S. citizen in Baghdad, murdered a U.S. contractor and wounded four U.S. service personnel in Syria, and abducted a U.S.-based researcher," lawmakers, led by Sen, Tom Cotton, R-Ark., wrote in a letter.

"Many of these Iraq-based groups participated in the more than two dozen attacks on U.S. troops in the region since Oct. 17. In each such attack, groups responsible have ties to the IRGC but are not currently designated as FTOs under U.S. law."

The lawmakers joining Cotton include Sens. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa; Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn.; and Roger Wicker, R-Miss.

A top Iranian general on Monday said Tehran was not scared of the U.S. and is "currently at the pinnacle of power and cannot be threatened."

Amir-Ali Hajizadeh also said the US is engaging in diplomatic talks with Iran using a "language of request and plea" amid attacks on U.S. bases.

Two U.S. F-15 jet fighters last week conducted airstrikes on a weapons storage facility in eastern Syria used by the IRGC and affiliated groups.

"This precision self-defense strike is a response to a series of attacks against U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria by IRGC-Quds Force affiliates," Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement. "The president has no higher priority than the safety of U.S. personnel, and he directed today’s action to make clear that the United States will defend itself, its personnel, and its interests."

"The United States is fully prepared to take further necessary measures to protect our people and our facilities," he added. "We urge against any escalation."

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