The U.S. did not notify the Iraqi government before it launched a barrage of retaliatory air strikes on Friday, contrary to an earlier statement by the White House which claimed that it did, according to the Biden Administration.
The strikes, which leveled dozens of targets across Iraq and Syria, were conducted in response to a Jan. 28 drone attack in Jordan that left three U.S. service members dead. In a Friday call with reporters, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said, “We did inform the Iraqi government prior to the strikes occurring.”
But during a Monday press briefing, Vedant Patel, a State Department spokesperson, walked that assertion back. “There was not a pre-notification,” he said. “We informed the Iraqis immediately after the strikes occurred.”
When The Daily Beast reached out to the National Security Council for more information, a spokesperson confirmed that, for reasons of “operational security,” there had been no formal warning issued to Tehran ahead of the strikes.
The spokesperson added that Washington had, however, made it clear in the aftermath of the Jan. 28 attack that the U.S. would respond “at a time and place of its choosing.”
