Iran strikes US bases in Iraq
Between 1.45am and 2.15am (2245 GMT and 2315 GMT) Iraq was hit by 22 missiles, 17 on the Ain al-Asad air base and ... five on the city of Arbil. Iraqi military command
BAGHDAD: Iran fired missiles on Wednesday at Iraqi bases housing the US military, officials in Washington and Tehran said, in the first action of the Islamic republic’s promised revenge for the US killing of a top Iranian general.
Launched from Iranian territory and by Iranian forces not a proxy, the attack marked a new turn in the intensifying confrontation between the United States and Iran and sent world oil prices soaring.
There was no immediate suggestion of any link to the missile strikes but a Ukrainian airliner crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran early Wednesday with the loss of all 176 people on board.
The Pentagon said “Iran launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles against US military and coalition forces in Iraq”.
“It is clear that these missiles were launched from Iran and targeted at least two Iraqi military bases hosting US military and coalition personnel” at Ain al-Asad and Arbil, it said.
Iran’s foreign minister appeared to suggest that the missile strikes were over for now.
There was no immediate confirmation of any casualties. The Pentagon said the facilities had been on “high alert” after days of steadily mounting tension and exchanges of threats of war.
The Iraqi military said it sustained no casualties in 22 missile strikes on bases housing US troops.
“Between 1.45am and 2.15am (2245 GMT and 2315 GMT) Iraq was hit by 22 missiles, 17 on the Ain al-Asad air base and ... five on the city of Arbil,” the Iraqi military command said.
“There were no victims among the Iraqi forces.”
France too said it sustained no casualties in the strikes on bases housing troops of a US-led coalition fighting the remnants of the Islamic State jihadist group.
But British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab voiced concern about “reports of casualties” in a statement condemning the strikes.
“We condemn this attack on Iraqi military bases hosting coalition — including British — forces,” Raab said.
“We are concerned by reports of casualties and use of ballistic missiles.”
Trump, who visited al-Asad with First Lady Melania Trump in December 2018, his first trip to US troops deployed in a war zone, said initial casualty assessments indicated “all is well.”
The Norwegian military said coalition troops on the ground were warned in advance through intelligence channels of an imminent attack.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps said that the Ain al-Asad base was hit with dozens of missiles, in response to Friday’s killing in a US drone strike of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, one of the most important figures in the country’s government.
It warned any US counterattack would be met with an even “more crushing response” and threatening to strike Israel and America’s “allied governments.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to inflict a “resounding blow” if Iran attacked.
The brazenness of the strike was highly unusual for Iran, which has tended to disguise attacks on US interests or troops through the use of proxy Shiite forces. This time, conventional, rather than guerrilla-style weapons were used and responsibility was rapidly claimed.
“It is a major escalation. Ballistic missiles openly launched from Iran onto American targets is a new phase,” said Phillip Smyth, an expert on Shiite militias.
Oil prices immediately jumped on the news, with the benchmark WTI spiking more than 4.5 per cent to US$65.54 a barrel before receding slightly.