US Embassy Attack: Demonstrators Storm Baghdad Compound, Trump Blames Iran

Update: 4:20 p.m. EST

Sen. Robert Menendez, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Tuesday asked the administration to explain the security failure at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

Menendez said he wants details on the security posture not only in Baghdad byut "elsewhere in the region," along with plans for possible evacuations and measures to ensure the safety of local staff.

“While the Trump administration has touted its maximum pressure campaign against Iran, the results so far have been more threats against international commerce, emboldened and more violent proxy attacks across the Middle East, and now, the death of an American citizen in Iraq,” he said.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper said additional forces are being sent to the embassy to shore up security but "we rely on host nation forces to assist in the protection of our personnel ... and we call on the government of Iraq t fulfill its international responsibilities to do so."

Update: 1:45 p.m. EST

A spokesman for the U.S. State Department said no one was hurt when protesters stormed the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad Tuesday, setting a reception area afire and defacing embassy walls with graffiti.

"Our first priority is the safety and security of US personnel," a State Department spokesperson said in a statement.

"U.S. personnel are secure and there has been no breach," the spokesperson said. "There are no plans to evacuate Embassy Baghdad."

The spokesperson said U.S. Ambassador Matt Tueller was not at the embassy at the time of the attack.

Update: 10:25 a.m. EST

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo talked with Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdel and President Barham Salih Mahdi as demonstrators believed backed by Iran stormed the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and received reassurance Iraq takes seriously its responsibility for guaranteeing safety and security for Americans in the country, the State Department said in a statement.

Update: 10:55 a.m. EST

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday called on Iraqis to rise up against Iranian influences in their country as demonstrators attacked the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

"To those many millions of people in Iraq ... who don't want to be dominated and controlled by Iran, this is your time!" Trump tweeted.

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Original story

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday warned Iran it will be held “fully responsible” for the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and called on the Iraqi government to use its forces to protect the compound as tensions between Washington and Tehran intensify.

Some of the 5,000 U.S. troops stationed in Iraq were reported headed for the embassy.

Members of a militia with ties to Iran stormed the embassy, smashing through a door and setting fire to documents and meals-ready-to-eat in a reception area. The embassy was placed on lockdown. Early reports said the embassy had been evacuated, but it was unclear how many or whether any personnel were removed.

Hundreds of angry demonstrators chanted, “Death to America,” echoing the 1979 Iran hostage crisis during which embassy personnel and diplomats were held captive for 444 days in Tehran. CBS reported 6,000 protesters were on hand.

The demonstrators gathered outside the embassy, protesting a series of U.S. airstrikes on Iranian backed forces in Iraq and Syria. The airstrikes were triggered by the death of a U.S. contractor in a 36-rocket attack against U.S. troops stationed on an Iraqi base in Kirkuk on Friday. The U.S. airstrike killed at least 25 members of the Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia, which was believed behind the protest.

"The [Iraqi] prime minister described the American attack on the Iraqi armed forces as an unacceptable vicious assault that will have dangerous consequences," his office said.

"American forces acted on their political priorities, not those of the Iraqis," Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi said in a statement said. He said such airstrikes "violate the sovereignty of Iraq" and will trigger a review of the U.S.-Iraq relationship.

The Iraqi government issued a statement hours after the attack began, saying it would use its security forces to protect the embassy in the high-security Green Zone but Iraqi troops did little to stop the attack.

There was no immediate word on casualties.

Trump tweeted from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida Iran was behind the attack and promised the U.S. would respond “strongly.”

A spokesman for the militia pledged Tuesday’s demonstration would continue until all U.S. diplomats leave Iraq and the embassy, the largest and most secure in the world, is shut down. The demonstrators broke through fortified doors and bulletproof glass to set fire to a reception area, smashing security cameras, and burning tires in two guard rooms as U.S. guards inside the embassy fired tear gas.

Leaders of three powerful militia groups were seen at the protest, including Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who heads Kataib Hezbollah

The Washington Post reported U.S. troops could be seen on nearby rooftops with weapons drawn, but did not fire.

Kataib Hezbollah flags could be seen draped over the embassy walls, which are topped by barbed wire as smoke billowed over the compound. Graffiti expressing allegiance to Iran was plaster on the embassy walls, with one of the slogans reading, “America get out.”

Embassy personnel were taken to a fortified safe room. It was unclear how many were trapped.

The Post said the Iraqi army moved in in late afternoon and ordered security forces to prevent demonstrators from breaching the embassy any farther.

Some of the demonstrators set up tents outside the embassy, and a spokesman indicated they would remain until the embassy is closed.

Officials in Washington on Monday accused Iraq of failing to protect U.S. interests.

"We have warned the Iraqi government many times, and we've shared information with them to try to work with them to carry out their responsibility to protect us as their invited guests," a senior U.S. state department official told reporters.

Trump has been tightening economic pressure on Iran since he pulled the U.S. out of the nuclear deal in May 2018 that had been designed to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Since then, Tehran has ramped up its uranium enrichment activities. Several incidents near the Strait of Hormuz have increased the tensions.

Tuesday’s protest comes amid widespread unrest in Iraq involving demonstrations by youth expressing anger over unemployment, poor services and endemic corruption, Al-Jazeera reported. At least 20 people have been reported killed with hundreds more injured.