An Iraqi militant group linked to Iran, suspected of being responsible for a drone attack that killed three US soldiers in Jordan, announced a "suspension" of operations against US forces after Washington said it had decided how to respond to the attack.
The armed group Kataib Hizballah said the pause was aimed at preventing "embarrassment" of the Iraqi government and suggested the drone strike was linked to US support for Israel in the war in the Gaza Strip.
"While we announce the suspension of military and security operations against the occupation forces - to prevent embarrassment to the Iraqi government - we will continue to defend our people in Gaza in other ways," Kataib Hizballah Secretary General Abu Hussein al-Hamidavi said in a statement released late Tuesday.
Three US soldiers were killed in Jordan on January 28 in a drone strike that the Pentagon said had "imprints" of the Tehran-sponsored Kataib Hizballah militia, although Washington has not yet definitively identified the group as behind the attack.
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"Actions speak louder than words," spokesman Pat Ryder said, adding, "There will be consequences."
US President Joe Biden, when asked by reporters in Florida on Tuesday whether he had decided how to respond to the attack, said "yes", without explaining what the US was planning.
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"I don't think we need a wider war in the Middle East. That's not what I'm looking for," he added.
Attacks on US forces will certainly increase political pressure in the US on Biden - who is in an election year - to retaliate against Iran's interests in the region, possibly in Iraq or Syria, analysts say.
Many observers have expressed fears of a widening conflict in the Middle East after war broke out in Gaza following the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel.
At least 1.200 were killed in those attacks, prompting Israeli retaliation that killed more than 26.000 Palestinians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza.
US forces in Iraq and Syria have reportedly been attacked more than 165 times since October 7. Most of the attacks have been claimed by the so-called Islamic Resistance in Iraq - an umbrella alliance of radical Shiite militias backed by Tehran.
A pro-Iranian group admitted to attacking American forces in Jordan
Experts say that Kataib Hizballah is one of the most powerful groups in the Islamic resistance in Iraq.
Many reports said the drone used in the attack was made in Iran, and the Foreign Ministry in Tehran denied it had anything to do with the incident, calling the allegations "baseless."
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said "resistance groups" in the region do not take orders from Tehran, although Western countries accuse the country of helping arm, train and finance such groups.
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