The Pentagon expressed its concern for both American forces and their partners in the Middle East upon receiving Saudi intelligence warning of an impending attack from Iran.
Defense Department spokesman Air Force Brigadier General Pat Ryder told reporters that the Pentagon “remains concerned about the threat situation in the region.”
Speaking shortly after The Wall Street Journal reported on the new concerns gathered by the Saudi intelligence agency, the threat seems aimed at areas within the Saudi kingdom, as well as in Erbil, Iraq, where U.S. forces are stationed.
Due to the threat and gathered intelligence, both Saudi Arabia and the U.S. have raised their threat level alerts.
The White House National Security Council voiced its concern about the warnings, saying the U.S. stands ready to respond if Iran carried out an attack.
“We are concerned about the threat picture, and we remain in constant contact through military and intelligence channels with the Saudis… and will not hesitate to act in the defense of our interests and partners in the region,” said a spokesperson.
Erbil — the Kurdish capital of Iraq — and other areas have been under constant Iranian threat these recent months. As The Dallas Express reported back in March, the government in Tehran has reportedly launched ballistic missiles at the northern reaches of the country, as well as attack drones — one of which a U.S. warplane shot down.
These hostilities from Tehran come in the wake of growing national tensions.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, protests have broken out across Iran over the death of Iranian Kurd Mahsa Amini while in police custody after being arrested by the country’s morality police for allegedly violating Iran’s strict rules on how women dress in public, as well as the brutal treatment of demonstrators by security forces.
Iranian authorities have publicly accused Saudi Arabia, along with the U.S. and Israel, of instigating these demonstrations. The U.S. believes these threats are made in hopes to distract from Iran’s domestic unrest.
Recently, the Biden administration has announced new sanctions on the country over allegedly su
pplying drones and technical assistance to Russia for its war in Ukraine.