The US military has hit targets related to Iran in Syria

The strikes came despite the fact that the European Union proposed the project restoration of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, which former president Donald Trump has abandonedand current president Joe Biden is trying to renew.

The Military Central Command said such strikes were intended to protect US forces from attack by Iranian-backed groups.

“The President gave direction to these strikes,” said army spokesman Colonel Joe Buccino.

Central Command called the strikes “proportionate, deliberate action to reduce the risk of escalation and minimize the risk of casualties.”

The statement on Tuesday’s US strike did not mention whether there were any casualties and did not state whether the strikes were carried out by manned or unmanned aerial vehicles.

This is not the first time US war planes have struck Iranian-backed forces in Iraq and Syria. The United States attacked operational facilities and weapons storage facilities at two sites in Syria and one in Iraq last June.

There are approximately 900 US soldiers in Syria, most of them in the east of the country.

Iran-backed militias are heavily concentrated west of the Euphrates in the province of Deir al-Zor, where they receive shipments from Iraq through the al-Bukamal border crossing.