Iran’s Khamenei condemns U.S. ‘malice’ over Iraq strikes

U.S. had carried out airstrikes on Hashed al-Shaabi militants

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday condemned U.S. air strikes on a militant group in Iraq.

“The Iranian govt & nation & I strongly condemn the U.S.’s malice,” Mr. Khamenei said in a Tweet, referring to Sunday’s deadly U.S. strikes on the Hashed al-Shaabi militants.

The U.S. carried out the strike in western Iraq in retaliation for rocket fire that killed an American civilian contractor at a military base in northern Iraq on Friday.

In a tweet on Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump accused Iran of “orchestrating” that day’s storming of the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.

In response, Mr. Khamenei said: “That guy has tweeted that we (the United States) see Iran responsible for the events in Baghdad & we will respond to Iran”.

“First, you can’t do anything. Second, if you were logical — which you’re not — you’d see that your crimes in Iraq, Afghanistan... have made nations hate you,” he tweeted.