Trump: US targeting 52 sites in Iran as tension mounts
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump warned Saturday that the US is targeting 52 sites in Iran and will hit them “very fast and very hard” if the Islamic republic attacks American personnel or assets.
In a saber-rattling tweet that defended Friday’s US drone strike assassination of a powerful Iranian general in Iraq, Trump said 52 represents the number of Americans held hostage at the US embassy in Tehran for more than a year starting in late 1979.
Trump said some of these sites are “at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD. The USA wants no more threats!”
Late Saturday night, the president tweeted again, this time warning Iran that the US will hit Iran “harder than they have ever been hit before!”
Trump followed up with another tweet, saying the US would use its “brand new beautiful” military equipment “without hesitation” if the Iranians retaliate.
Trump spoke out after pro-Iran factions ramped up pressure on US installations across Iraq with missiles and warnings to Iraqi troops — part of an outburst of fury over the killing of Qasem Soleimani, described as the second most-powerful man in Iran.
With the Islamic republic promising revenge, his killing was the most dramatic escalation yet in spiraling tensions between Washington and Tehran and has prompted fears of a major conflagration in the Middle East.
In the first hints of a possible retaliatory response, two mortar rounds hit an area near the US embassy in Baghdad on Saturday, security sources told AFP.
Almost simultaneously, two rockets slammed into the Al-Balad airbase where American troops are deployed north of Baghdad, security sources said.
The Iraqi military confirmed the missile attacks in Baghdad and on al-Balad and said there were no casualties. The US military also said no coalition troops were hurt.
With Americans wondering fearfully if, how and where Iran will hit back for the assassination, the US Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin that said “at this time there is no specific, credible threat against the homeland.”
However on Saturday the website of the Federal Depository Library Program, a little-known US government agency, was breached by a group claiming to be linked to Iran, who posted graphics displaying the Iranian flag and vowing revenge for Soleimani’s death.
Separately, US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said in a statement that information given to Congress by Trump, a Republican, “prompts serious and urgent questions about the timing, manner and justification of” the strike.
“The Trump Administration’s provocative, escalatory and disproportionate military engagement continues to put service members, diplomats and citizens of America and our allies in danger,” said Pelosi, a Democrat.
Another prominent democrat, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, called the president a “monster”, for “threatening to target and kill innocent families, women and children”.
In a tweet, she said: “This is a war crime.”
While no one claimed Saturday’s attacks in Baghdad, a hardline proIran faction in Iraq’s Hashed alShaabi military network shortly after urged Iraqis to move away from US forces by Sunday at 5.00pm local time (1400 GMT).
The deadline would coincide with a parliament session which the Hashed has insisted should see a vote on the ouster of US troops. Washington has blamed the vehemently anti-American group for a series of rocket attacks in recent weeks targeting US diplomats and troops stationed across Iraq.
Many fear the US strike that killed Iran’s military mastermind Soleimani would set off a wider conflict with Iran, and have braced for more attacks. — AFP
BAGHDAD: Iraq’s parliament was expected to vote Sunday on ousting US troops from military bases, which are threatened by pro-Tehran factions after an American strike killed top Iranian and Iraqi commanders.
Late Saturday, missiles slammed into the Baghdad enclave where the US embassy is located and an airbase north of the capital where American troops are deployed, prompting US President Donald Trump to threaten strikes on 52 sites in Iran.
The near-simultaneous attacks seemed to be the first phase of promised retaliation for the US precision drone strike that killed Iran’s Major General Qasem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi alMuhandis, deputy head of Iraq’s Hashed al-Shaabi.
While no one claimed Saturday’s attacks, a hardline pro-Iran faction in the Hashed, a network of Shiite-majority armed groups incorporated into the state, urged Iraqis to move away from US forces.
“We ask security forces in the country to get at least 1,000 meters away from US bases starting on Sunday at 5:00pm (1400 GMT),” said the Kataeb Hezbollah faction.
The deadline coincides with the planned conclusion of a parliamentary session on Sunday which the Hashed has insisted should see a vote on the ouster of US troops.
Some 5,200 US soldiers are deployed across Iraqi bases to train and support local troops to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State jihadist group.
They are deployed as part of the broader international coalition, invited by the Iraqi government in 2014 to help fight IS as it swept across Iraqi territory.
The Hashed, whose Shiitemajority factions have close ties to Iran, has vehemently opposed their presence for months.
Its hardline members and its political branch, the Fatah bloc, have called on parliament to revoke the invitation.
The 329-member parliament is set to meet at 1:00pm local time and while no agenda has been published, many lawmakers are pushing for a vote on the foreign troops.
“We either vote on the occupation forces leaving, or we remain subservient, robbed of our will and dignity,” said Fatah MP Ahmad al-Kinany.
“Any parliamentarian absent for the vote on the departure of the occupier will have betrayed his country,” he said.
While praying over Muhandis’ remains in Baghdad on Saturday, Fatah head Hadi al-Ameri pledged to avenge him.
“Be reassured that the price of your pure blood will be the departure of American troops from Iraq, forever,” he said.
US defence officials in Iraq told AFP in the hours ahead of the session that they felt apprehensive and nervous.
Already, increased tensions prompted NATO to suspend its training activities in Iraq and a US defence official told AFP American-led coalition forces would ‘limit’ operations.
“Our first priority is protecting coalition personnel,” the official said, saying surveillance had shifted from monitoring jihadist sleeper cells to watching for incoming rocket attacks.
As Saturday’s rocket attacks unfolded, coalition planes were heard circulating above their bases in Kirkuk province, AFP’s correspondent there said.
“Through his allies in Iraq, Qasem Soleimani had sought the departure of US forces,” said Tom Warrick, a former US official and current fellow at the Atlantic Council.
“If US forces do end up withdrawing, it could grant Soleimani a post-humous victory,” Warrick told AFP.
The US strike on Baghdad international airport early Friday killed a total of five Iranian Revolutionary Guards and five members of Iraq’s Hashed.
After a procession that made its way across various Iraqi cities on Saturday, the remains of the Iranians, plus those of Muhandis and another Hashed member, were flown to Iran. — AFP