BAGHDAD: The US ambassador to Iraq denounced attacks Thursday targeting Western-linked brands in Baghdad this week, as anger grows across the Middle East over Israel’s war in Gaza.
A stun bomb exploded at 1:20 am in front of a dealership of the US construction equipment company Caterpillar in the Jadriyah neighborhood of Baghdad, the Iraqi security forces said.
Ten minutes later, a blast went off in front of the Cambridge Institute in nearby Palestine Street, which a resident identified as a likely Iraqi-owned language learning center.
On Sunday, a makeshift bomb was thrown at a branch of the US fast-food chain KFC, causing minor damage. The next night, masked men broke into another branch, smashing glass.
“We condemn recent violent attacks against US and international businesses,” the US ambassador to Baghdad, Alina Romanowski, said on social media platform X.
She urged the Iraqi government to “conduct a thorough investigation, bring to justice those who are responsible, and prevent future attacks.”
“These attacks endanger Iraqi lives and property, and could weaken Iraq’s ability to attract foreign investment,” the US diplomat added.
The Iraqi security forces said Thursday’s attacks, whose motives remained unknown, did not cause any damage or injuries, adding they were a “desperate attempt to harm Iraq’s reputation.”
After the KFC attacks, security forces said they had arrested several suspects.
Since the war in Gaza started in October, a boycott movement spearheaded by pro-Palestinian activists has targeted major Western brands, such as Starbucks and McDonald’s.
Iraq does not recognize Israel’s statehood, and all of its political parties support the Palestinian cause.
Earlier this week, influential Iraqi cleric Moqtada Sadr renewed his calls to close the US embassy in Baghdad “through diplomatic means without bloodshed,” after an Israeli strike killed dozens of civilians in a camp in Gaza.
US envoy condemns attacks on Western-linked brands in Baghdad
https://arab.news/rsvz4
US envoy condemns attacks on Western-linked brands in Baghdad
- A stun bomb exploded at 1:20 am in front of a dealership of the US construction equipment company Caterpillar
- Ten minutes later, a blast went off in front of the Cambridge Institute in nearby Palestine Street
Vessel struck off Oman’s Muscat, UKMTO says
DUBAI: A vessel was struck on Sunday by an unknown projectile 50 nautical miles north of Oman’s capital, Muscat, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said.
The attack resulted in a fire in the vessel’s engine room that has been brought under control, UKMTO added.
It is the second incident the agency reports on Sunday after reporting an incident off Oman’s Kumzar in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian state television said Sunday that an oil tanker was sinking after it was struck while attempting to pass through the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
The incident took place as Iran exchanged strikes with the United States and Israel, who launched an attack Saturday that killed the Islamic republic’s supreme leader.
“The fate of the offending oil tanker that was struck while attempting to illegally pass through the Strait of Hormuz is that it is now sinking,” state TV reported, without elaborating.
It carried footage showing heavy black smoke emanating from the burning tanker at sea.
The strait carries a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil and a fifth of all liquified natural gas.
On Saturday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards had warned that the vital waterway was unsafe due to US and Israeli attacks and was therefore closed to ships.
