Discussing the 31 December attack on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo maintained that “what you saw was Iranian-backed terrorists – many of them are individuals that have been designated terrorists by the U.S. and others – come into the American embassy and posing a risk to American diplomats and personnel inside the embassy”. Pompeo also underscored that “we’re committed to the project that we began when we made the policy decision at President Trump’s direction that we were going to push back against the Islamic Republic of Iran to create stability throughout the Middle East. We’re still fully committed to that mission set”. The following day, Iran’s diplomatic spokesperson said that the U.S. was “blaming the Islamic Republic of Iran for the protests from the Iraqi people against their own ferocious measures in a blatant and cheap act of pinning the blame on others”.