HUNDREDS of US troops died in Iraq… because of Iran, US special envoy claims

After assigning Iran the blame for mass death in both Syria and Yemen, US Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook declared Tehran responsible for 608 US soldiers losing their lives while invading Iraq.

In a State Department press briefing on April 2, Hook proudly spoke on the momentous occasion of his government announcing its 26th round of sanctions against the embattled Iranian state, attempting to detail the effectiveness of the economic attacks.

He also kindly extended his condolences over the deadly floods raging throughout Iran... which he proceeded to blame on the government as well.

“They are suffering from floods because Iran has prioritized its expansionist foreign policy over things like emergency preparedness and water management,” Hook said. When a questioner pressed the speakers on the issue asking if the administration saw “all natural disasters everywhere” as the fault of the government or if that is unique to Iran, Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino responded that Hook had already discussed the regime-created “environmental degradation.”

It seems that Iran is responsible for a significant portion of the deaths occurring just about everywhere in the region, and in Iraq in particular, where he says the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) are responsible for the deaths of “hundreds” of US soldiers who were just incidentally invading the country in the course of the eight-year-long Iraq War.

In Iraq, I can announce today, based on declassified US military reports, that Iran is responsible for the deaths of at least 608 American service members. This accounts for 17 percent of all deaths of US personnel in Iraq from 2003 to 2011. This death toll is in addition to the many thousands of Iraqis killed by the IRGC’s proxies.

Despite the fact that nearly 405,000 Iraqis were killed as a result of the US-led war, Hook made clear that Iranian “expansionism” was and is the dangerous force threatening the country.

RT has contacted the Iranian Foreign Ministry with a request for comment.

He then discussed Hassan Rouhani’s recent trip to Iraq where the Iranian president was welcomed by the foreign minister before meeting Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi and President Barham Salih. The trip looked rather different than Donald Trump’s last December, when the US leader arrived under the cover of night, quickly visited troops at an American airbase, and left without meeting a single Iraqi official citing “disagreements.”

“President Rouhani recently visited Iraq, where he seeks to bring – which he seeks to bring under Iranian control,” Hook said. “We ask the Iraqi people to consider this: Given how Rouhani treats his own people, just imagine how he will treat you.”

Meanwhile, Washington has been showcasing its own treatment of the country, such as threatening them with sanctions for buying electricity from Iran. Salih responded that Baghdad will not adhere to the US’ sanctions demands.

In February, Donald Trump announced plans to keep US troops in Iraq in order to “watch Iran,” a proposal which led to a strong outcry from Iraqi officials, including Salih, who informed Trump his government had not agreed to allow foreign troops to conduct espionage on their territory.

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