UN Calls For Toning Down Rhetoric After Rocket Falls Near US Embassy In Iraq - Spokesman

UN Calls for Toning Down Rhetoric after Rocket Falls Near US Embassy in Iraq - Spokesman

UNITED NATIONS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st May, 2019) The United Nations is urging all parties to lower tensions in the middle East after this weekend's incident involving a rocket falling near the US Embassy in Baghdad, UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a press briefing on Monday.

On Sunday, a projectile fired from a Katyusha rocket landed in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, where the US embassy is located, the joint command of the Iraqi army said in a statement.

"We are concerned about the rising rhetoric ... we saw the rocket attack, or rocket launch towards what seemed to be aimed towards the US embassy in Iraq, in Baghdad, that is also of concern. We would ask all parties to lower the rhetoric and lower the threshold of action as well," Dujarric said.

Sunday's apparent attack on the US Embassy in Baghdad comes amid escalating tensions between the United States and Iran.

Iraqi authorities are investigating the attack, a spokesman for Iraq's Armed Forces command told Sputnik on Monday.

Earlier this month, the US ordered the evacuation of all government personnel from its embassy in Baghdad, as well as its consulate in Erbil, citing an unspecified threat to emanating from Iran.

The United States has in recent weeks stepped up its military forces in the Middle East in what US National Security Adviser John Bolton has called "a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime." The new US deployments in the region include a carrier strike group, Patriot missiles, B-52 bombers and F-15 fighters, according to the Pentagon.