Secretary of Defense Mark Esper reacted on Thursday to the U.S. Embassy attack in Iraq earlier this week, saying that it’s time for Iran to start “acting like a normal country.”

“We are there in Iraq working with our Iraqi partners to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS,” Esper said on “America’s Newsroom” on Thursday.

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“Through the president’s direction, we were able to physically defeat the caliphate that remains physically defeated, if you will,” he added. “And now, our aim is to deter further Iranian bad behavior that has been going on now for over 40 years. It’s time that Iran started acting like a normal country.”

Fox News’ Lucas Tomlinson, Mike Arroyo, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.