Image Credit: AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / Contributor / Getty Images 
An Iraqi Shiite militia backed by Iran has attacked US troops in Baghdad. No casualties are reported.
The group, known as Saraya Awliya al-Dam, is one of a number of Iraqi Shiite militias backed by Iran and has operated in the country since the fall of Saddam Hussein, in 2003.
The attack was carried out in retaliation for the bombing of Iran by the US and Israel and the killing of its supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
As well as launching missile and drone attacks across the region, Iran has activated proxies in the region, including the Houthis in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Iraq’s government has condemned the US-Israeli bombing of Iran and declared a three-day mourning period for Khamenei.
Over the weekend, President Trump said he will offer the Iranian regime several “off ramps” from Operation Epic Fury.
In a phone interview with Axios on Saturday, Trump said, “I can go long and take over the whole thing, or end it in two or three days and tell the Iranians: ‘See you again in a few years if you start rebuilding [your nuclear program].’”
“In any case, it will take them several years to recover from this attack,” Trump added.
The comments suggest President Trump is still open to a diplomatic solution.
As Axios notes, “A short operation followed by new ultimatums would be a dramatically different outcome than the regime change thatsome U.S. and Israeli officials have described as the goal.”
A senior US official has said the joint US-Israeli operational plan targets a heavy five-day bombing campaign. The President told Axios the schedule could change in response to events on the ground, including the fate of senior Iranian officials.
Trump said the two main reasons for the attacks were the failure of recent negotiations over Iran’s nuclear ambitions, led on the American side by Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, and Iran’s history of funding terrorism and proxy wars for the last five decades.
