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The Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI) announced on August 7 that it had “delayed” a planned retaliatory strike against Saudi Arabia, while insisting the delay would not alter its determination to respond to the recent U.S.-Saudi attack on Iraq.
In a statement, the IRI, an umbrella group of Iran-backed Iraqi armed factions, said that it delayed the strike planned for later in the day after receiving a request from prominent Shia leader Hadi al-Ameri and in support of the positions taken by several Iraqi political leaders.
The group stressed that the decision is to delay the strike rather than to cancel it, declaring that “the blood of the martyrs will never be a commodity to be traded in the marketplace of political calculations.”
“The American enemy and its allies must know that sovereignty is not restored through weak and cautious statements, but revived by the fists of the loyal,” it warned.
The IRI further urged Iraqi political figures “whose positions and power have distracted them from defending the blood of the martyrs and the country’s violated sovereignty” to reconsider their stance and “return to the right path.”
The announcement came hours after al-Ameri, the head of the Badr Organization, publicly appealed to the IRI to postpone “any response” to the recent U.S.-Saudi attack.
“I appeal to my sons and brothers in the Islamic Resistance in Iraq to postpone any response to the American-Saudi attack that targeted Iraq, and to endure these wounds patiently, for the sake of Iraq’s higher interest,” al-Ameri said in a video message.
The leader stressed in the message that “the rights of the martyrs and wounded will be pursued through diplomatic means.”
The U.S.-Saudi attack targeted several positions of the Popular Mobilization Forces in Baghdad and five other provinces last week, claiming the lives of at least 20 people, including five advisors from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Just a day earlier, Reuters reported that Saudi Arabia is expecting imminent coordinated attacks from the north and south by Iraqi armed factions and Yemen’s Houthis under the supervision of the IRGC.
A senior Saudi official told the news agency that intelligence reports from Saudi Arabia, the U.S. and other regional countries indicated civilian and economic sites could be targeted, including energy infrastructure, ports and airports. The kingdom had also observed drones and missiles being moved, suggesting coordinated operations from both directions, the official added.
The IRI decision to delay the retaliatory strike indicates that there are some serious efforts to de-escalate. Still, the situation is not over yet. As the group itself has noted, the operation has been only delayed. Any uncalculated move by Saudi Arabia, even against the Houthis in Yemen, could provoke the armed factions in Iraq.
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another item for lists of wonder excuses to attack and siege iran. all to protect globalist saudi oil export control. the imf mafia is counting on saudi energy to fund this effort. what else would the dulles brothers do?