Iran-Backed Militias in Baghdad Present a Test for Biden

Excerpt

Stephen Troell, a U.S aid worker from Tennessee, was shot dead by unknown assailants while he drove through Baghdad last week with his wife and daughter in the car. A little-known militia claimed responsibility for the murder, calling it revenge for the U.S. airstrike that killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Suleimani more than two years ago. Troell’s death is a test of whether President Joe Biden is prepared to hold Iran’s clerical dictatorship accountable for the killing or attempted killing of American civilians—a test he has failed before.

In August, the Department of Justice unsealed charges against a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps for offering an assassin $300,000 to kill John Bolton, who served as U.S. national security adviser in 2018-2019. The Iranian agent told an informant he wanted Bolton to die before the anniversary of Suleimani’s death.

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD’s Long War Journal. David Adesnik is a senior fellow and director of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Follow them on Twitter @billroggio and @adesnik. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.