Kilas TimurTengah | Kelompok-kelompok milisi dukungan Iran yang memprotes serangan udara AS di Irak, hari Rabu (1/1) menarik diri dari Kedutaan Besar AS di Baghdad setelah hari kedua demonstrasi, sementara Iran dan Amerika saling mengancam.
Sebelumnya, personil keamanan AS menembakkan gas air mata dan peluru karet ke arah ratusan demonstran setelah demonstran melemparkan batu ke arah gedung dan mencoba membakar dinding dan pos keamanan di pintu masuk utama kompleks itu.
Demonstrasi-demonstrasi itu menarget AS sebagai tanggapan atas serangan udara Amerika pada hari Minggu (29/12) terhadap kelompok milisi yang didukung Iran, Kataeb Hezbollah, yang dikatakan Washington sebagai tanggapan atas pembunuhan seorang kontraktor AS dalam serangan roket pekan lalu.
Lihat juga : FOTO: Demonstran Irak Serbu Kedutaan Besar AS
Brian Hook, perwakilan khusus AS untuk Iran, mengatakan kepada CNN, "Para diplomat kita aman demikian pula kedutaan kita. Hari ini situasinya jauh lebih baik. Tidak ada ancaman langsung terhadap properti atau personil Amerika."
Pemimpin tertinggi Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, dalam pidato di televisi pemerintah, mengecam serangan Amerika terhadap jaringan paramiliter Hashsha-Shaabi di Irak barat.
"Saya dan pemerintah serta bangsa Iran sangat mengutuk kejahatan Amerika ini," kata Khamenei.
Pemimpin Iran itu mengklaim Iran tidak terlibat dengan demonstrasi di Baghdad itu, mengutuk ancaman Presiden AS Donald Trump pada Malam Tahun Baru bahwa Iran "akan membayar sangat mahal" jika merusak kedutaan AS atau melukai personel Amerika yang ditugaskan di sana.
"Ini bukan peringatan. Ini ancaman," tegas Trump. (sumber ; www.voaindonesia.com/)
============================================ English
Kilas TimurTengah | Iranian-backed militia groups protesting against US airstrikes in Iraq on Wednesday withdrew from the US embassy in Baghdad after the second day of demonstrations, while Iran and the US threatened each other.
Earlier, US security personnel fired tear gas and rubber bullets at hundreds of demonstrators after demonstrators hurled stones at the building and tried to burn walls and security posts at the complex's main entrance.
The demonstrations targeted the US in response to the American airstrike on Sunday (29/12) against the Iranian-backed militia group, Saideb Hezbollah, which Washington said was in response to the killing of a US contractor in a rocket attack last week.
Brian Hook, the US special representative for Iran, told CNN, "Our diplomats are safe as is our embassy. Today the situation is much better. There is no direct threat to American property or personnel."
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a speech on state television, condemned the American attack on the Hashsha-Shaabi paramilitary network in western Iraq.
"I and the Iranian government and nation strongly condemn this American crime," Khamenei said.
The Iranian leader claimed Iran was not involved with the demonstration in Baghdad, condemning the threat of US President Donald Trump on New Year's Eve that Iran "will pay a very high price" if it damages the US embassy or injures the American personnel assigned there.
"This is not a warning. This is a threat," Trump said.
