Iraq finds itself trapped between the United States and Iran as a regional war intensifies. The conflict erupted after the United States and Israel killed Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, earlier this year. Since then, drones have been flying over Basra in southern Iraq, targeting the country's oil industry.
One attack hit an oilfield operated by BP, a cargo terminal at Basra airport, and a compound housing foreign companies that service the oil sector. Another attack on March 6 struck the same compound, hitting offices and warehouses used by Halliburton and KBR, two US companies that have been in Iraq since the 2003 invasion. The attack caused a massive fire that lit up the night sky.
According to a senior Iraqi security official, these strikes show how weak the state has become and how easily its sovereignty can be violated. For 40 years, the US, Iran, and Israel existed in an uneasy balance of neither peace nor war. That balance has now collapsed, leaving Iraq exposed in the middle of a dangerous confrontation.