When Iranian backed "protestors" stormed the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, occupying parts of the facility while lighting fires and bashing down doors, there were shades of the 1979 siege of the American embassy in Tehran. In 1979 the "students" occupying the embassy were upset over a series of grievances. The trigger point was when President Carter allowed the exiled Shah of Iran to find refuge in America. In the final days of 2019 and into 2020 the so-called protestors raiding the embassy in Baghdad were ordered there over similarly escalating tensions. In both instances, “Death to America!” was a popular chant.
U.S. officials widely believe but have not proved that the numerous rocket attacks that targeted U.S. military bases in Iraq were orchestrated by a militia known as Kataib Hezbollah, linked to the Iranian Republican Guard Corps (IRGC). President Trump recently had the IRGC designated as a terrorist organization. When one of the rocket attacks injured American soldiers and killed one contractor, a series of airstrikes were launched against Kataib Hezbollah in both Syria and Iraq. Iran's counter-move was the assault on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper announced that he was, “sending additional forces to support our personnel at the Embassy.” Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force Crisis Response-Central Command was spun up in Kuwait and flown to the embassy grounds in Baghdad. The unit was specially created after the tragedy in Benghazi, Libya in 2012 in which American personnel were overrun and left without help for 13 hours. Esper then went on to announce that President Trump has ordered further troop deployments this time from the 82nd Airborne Division. "Approximately 750 soldiers will deploy to the region immediately, and additional forces from the IRF are prepared to deploy over the next several days," Esper said.
Sources speaking to Connecting Vets said it was 1st Brigade Combat Team (BCT) which was spun up from the 82nd Airborne Division and rapidly deployed. 2nd BCT was also placed on standby and is to follow close behind 1st BCT. At any given time, a BCT from the 82nd Airborne Division is prepared for rapid deployment, with one battalion designated as the GRB 1 or Global Response Battalion 1, which was the first to board C17 aircraft and deployed on New Year's Day. The para-troopers reportedly had their cell phones confiscated before they boarded the aircraft, likely an attempt to maintain operational security when the troops arrived overseas. Other sources indicated to Connecting Vets that elements of the Special Operations community had also been spun up in reaction to what was happening in Baghdad. At least one conventional unit slated to be deployed to Syria was diverted and now is being deployed to Iraq instead.
With President Trump talking about the troop deployments on his Twitter account, Mark Esper announcing the deploying troops in a press conference, and the military releasing footage of the Marine response force from Kuwait landing at the embassy in Baghdad, the message to Iran was direct.
On Wednesday, the leaders of the so-called protestors announced they were ending the embassy siege and would pursue the removal of American troops from Iraq in parliament, taking up the issue with Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi.
Whether or not this comes to pass remains to be seen, but both sides had made their point in a game up brinksmanship, where the stakes were raised to dangerous levels. No one was reported to be injured or killed during the embassy siege.