Tasnim – Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman hit back at Washington for its accusations against Iran following recent protests in Iraq, calling on the White House to quit its destructive policies in the region.

In a statement on Tuesday, Abbas Mousavi dismissed the “bogus” allegations that the American officials have made against Iran over the recent developments in Iraq.

“The surprising impudence of the American authorities is at such a level that after slaughtering at least 25 people, wounding many Iraqi people, inflicting financial damages on Iraq and violating the country’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity, they (Americans) are now 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,” Mousavi said.

Such allegations leveled by the US amount to an insult to the people of Iraq, the Iranian spokesman said, asking the US officials how and with what logic they expect the Iraqi nation to remain silent about such extensive crimes.

“On the one hand, the Americans have ignored the Iraqi nation’s liberality and pursuit of independence, and on the other hand, they have forgotten their role in supporting Saddam and in creating Daesh and the consequent massacre and depredation of the Iraqi people, and have apparently failed to remember that they are still deemed by the people of Iraq to be ‘occupiers’,” the spokesman added.

He went on to dismiss the accusations and, warning Washington against showing any thoughtless and wrong reaction in their calculations, called on the White House to reconsider its destructive policies on the region.

On Sunday, US forces conducted drone strikes on a number of Kata'ib Hezbollah bases in Iraq's western Anbar province, killing at least 25 individuals and leaving another 51 injured, according to the PMU (Popular Mobilization Units).

Following the strikes, the Pentagon issued a statement saying that it had targeted three locations of the Iraqi fighters in Iraq and two in Syria in response to alleged attacks targeting American forces.

Kata’ib Hezbollah is part of the PMU. The PMU, also known as Hashd al-Sha’abi, played a key role in defeating the Daesh terrorist group that had occupied parts of Iraq since 2014.