The United States military announced early Wednesday that it carried out airstrikes against facilities used by Iran-affiliated groups in eastern Syria.
"At President (Joe) Biden’s direction, U.S. military forces conducted precision airstrikes in Deir el-Zor, Syria today. These precision strikes are intended to defend and protect U.S. forces from attacks like the ones on Aug. 15 against U.S. personnel by Iran-backed groups," a statement by the U.S. Central Command said.
"The U.S. strikes targeted infrastructure facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps," it added.
"The president gave the direction for these strikes," said spokesperson Col. Joe Buccino.
The statement did not mention whether there were any casualties and did not say whether the air strikes were carried out by manned or unmanned aircraft.
Iran on Wednesday denied any link to groups targeted in U.S. strikes in eastern Syria, terming the attack a "terrorist act."
In a statement, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani described the airstrikes as a "violation" of Syria's "sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity."
The strikes came even as U.S. aimed to respond to a draft agreement proposed by the European Union that would bring back the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran that former U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned and Biden has sought to revive.
A resolution for nuclear deal issues may be tantalizingly close. But as the U.S. and Europe weigh Iran’s latest response to an EU proposal described as the West’s final offer, the administration faces new and potentially insurmountable domestic political hurdles to forging a lasting agreement.
The attack on controversial author Salman Rushdie and the indictment of an Iranian national in a plot to kill former national security adviser John Bolton have given the Biden administration new headaches as it attempts to negotiate a return to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.
