The protesters, including members of Iranian-backed militias, largely withdrew after a few hours, but the situation remained volatile.
BAGHDAD – For a second day, demonstrators swarmed outside the United States Embassy in Iraq on Wednesday and troops fired tear gas in an attempt to disperse them, but after a few hours the militia leaders who had organized the demonstration called on the crowd to leave.
- Unlike on Tuesday, protesters did not get inside the compound. By midafternoon all but about had dispersed, taking their tent poles with them.President Trump said on Tuesday that Iran was responsible for events at the embassy compound in Baghdad, and tweeted, “They will pay a very BIG PRICE! This is not a Warning, it is a Threat. ”that drew a taunting response on Wednesday from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader. “You can’t do anything,”
he saidin a speech in Tehran, according to his website, adding: “If the Islamic Republic decides to challenge and fight, it will do so unequivocally. ”The situation in Iraq reached a new level of volatility in the last few days as Iran and the United States attacked each other’s forces, in an escalation of hostilities that was at risk of spiraling out of control. The growing confrontations between the United States and Iran, the two main sponsors of the fragile Iraqi government and the two primary foreign military powers there, makes the already unstable region even more so.************ (******************************************
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****************************************************** Protesters entered the compound
****************************************************** Protesters entered the compound
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