WASHINGTON, October 27. /TASS/. The US Department of Defense will take "further necessary measures" if pro-Iranian groups continue to attack US forces in the Middle East, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said.

The Pentagon reported that at US President Joe Biden’s direction, US military forces had conducted strikes on two facilities in eastern Syria used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and affiliated groups.

"If attacks by Iran’s proxies against US forces continue, we will not hesitate to take further necessary measures to protect our people," Austin said in a statement, published by the Pentagon’s press service.

In his words, the United States "has no intention nor desire to engage in further hostilities, but these Iranian-backed attacks against US forces are unacceptable and must stop."

"Iran wants to hide its hand and deny its role in these attacks against our forces. We will not let them," the US defense secretary added.

He said the strikes came in response to attacks on US servicemen in Iraq and Syria.