The US military has said it has carried out airstrikes in Syria on facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran's Revolutionary Guards.
According to news agency Reuters, the attacks on Tuesday came as the United States sent a draft response to the European Union's proposal to restore the nuclear deal with Iran.
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The military's Central Command said in a statement that such strikes are aimed at protecting US forces from attacks by Iran-backed groups.
The statement cited a similar incident on August 15 in which a drone attack on a compound held by allied and US-backed Syrian opposition fighters resulted in no casualties.
Col. Joe Buckino, a military spokesman, said the president had ordered the strikes.
The US Central Command described the strikes as a 'proportionate, deliberate action aimed at limiting the risk of escalation and minimizing the risk of casualties'.
The statement about the US strike did not mention whether there were any casualties. Similarly, it was not stated whether these airstrikes were carried out by jets or unmanned drones.
This is not the first time that US warplanes have targeted Iran-backed forces in Iraq and Syria. In June last year, the US hit two sites in Syria and one in Iraq, targeting operational and weapons storage facilities.
U.S. forces were first deployed to Syria during the Obama administration's campaign against ISIS, which has partnered with the Kurdish-led group Syrian Democratic Forces.
There are about 900 US troops in Syria, most of them in the eastern region.
Iran-backed militias gained footholds in Syria during the Syrian civil war, fighting in support of President Bashar al-Assad.
Iranian-backed militias have bases west of the Euphrates in Deir Ezzor province, where they receive supplies from Iraq via the Al-Bukamal border crossing.
