First, the Trump administration has begun a new campaign highlighting Iranian military activity in the region. Second, in Basra in August and September, violent protests by local residents led to the burning of the Iranian consulate and conspiratorial declarations by some Iraqi politicians that American officials had incited the protests.

Third, and perhaps most important, the State Department has been internally debating for more than a year whether to shut down the Basra consulate to save money.

Basra is in Iraq’s far south, in a region of rich oil fields near the Persian Gulf. The vast majority of the people are Shiite Arabs, and Shiite political parties dominate. Some of those parties, as well as some militias, are supported by Iran, which is majority Shiites.

In August and early September, thousands of residents took to the streets of central Basra to call for the Iraqi government to deliver crucial services, including power and clean water. Frequent blackouts take place across the city in the summer months, when the region is sweltering.

This year, many of the protesters also criticized Iran’s influence in Basra, and some stormed the Iranian consulate on Sept. 7, setting it on fire. Protesters also have been killed and injured in clashes with Iraqi security forces.

The United States consulate is inside the perimeter of the Basra airport and far from the city’s center and protest sites. On Sept. 8, three rockets landed by the airport perimeter, but no one was injured or killed, according to a Reuters report from Iraq.