Iran’s attack injured 11 US troops
Service members being checked for concussion signs
Evaluated for concussion-like symptoms after strike that Trump had said caused no harm to Americans.
WASHINGTON — Eleven U.S. troops were flown out of Iraq for evaluation of concussion-like symptoms in the days following an Iranian missile strike, officials said Friday.
The Pentagon’s chief spokesman, Jonathan Hoffman, said Defense Secretary Mark Esper did not know of the injuries until he was told Thursday that 11 troops had been sent for evaluation at U.S. medical facilities — eight in Germany and three in Kuwait. Hoffman said the notification to Esper was in line with military procedures, which he said do not require notification of service member casualties to the Pentagon unless they involve the loss of life, limb or eyesight.
As recently as Tuesday night, President Donald Trump said he had been told no Americans had been harmed in the Iranian missile strike Jan. 8. The question of American casualties was significant at the time because the missile attack’s results were seen as influencing a U.S. decision on whether to retaliate and risk a broader war with
Iran.
Trump chose not to retaliate, and the tensions with Iran have eased somewhat.
After Esper was notified of the possible brain injuries Thursday, U.S. Central Command put out a public statement saying “several” troops were treated for concussion symptoms from the missile blasts. The AP had reported this Monday when reporters were allowed to visit the attacked base, alAsad, in western Iraq.
Thursday’s statement said that “out of an abundance of caution,” some of the injured troops were flown out of Iraq for followon screening. Medical personnel at al-Asad do not have a magnetic resonance imaging scanner, which can be used to diagnose brain injuries.
One service member with concussion-like symptoms was flown out of Iraq on Jan. 10; the rest were taken out five days later, Hoffman said.
Meanwhile, Iran’s supreme leader lashed out at Western countries as he led Friday prayers in Tehran for the first time in eight years, dismissing “American clowns” who he said pretend to support the Iranian nation but want to stick their “poisoned dagger” into its back.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei used his rare appearance at the weekly prayers to deliver a fiery address in which he insisted Iran would not bow to U.S. pressure after months of crushing sanctions and a series of recent crises — from the killing of a top Iranian general to accidentally shooting down of a Ukrainian passenger plane.
Khamenei said the mass funerals for Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike earlier this month, show that the Iranian people support the Islamic
Republic despite its recent trials.
He said the “cowardly” hit on Soleimani had taken out the most effective commander in the battle against the Islamic State group.
In response to Soleimani’s killing, Iran launched a barrage of ballistic missiles targeting U.S. troops in Iraq. Khamenei said the strike had dealt a “blow to America’s image” as a superpower.
In the part of his sermon delivered in Arabic, he said the “real punishment” would be in forcing the U.S. to withdraw from the Middle East.
Khamenei called the downing of the plane a “bitter accident“that he said had saddened Iran as much as it made its enemies happy.
Khamenei also lashed out at Britain, France and Germany after they triggered a dispute mechanism to try and bring Iran back into compliance with the unraveling 2015 nuclear agreement.
“These contemptible governments are waiting to bring the Iranian nation to its knees,” Khamenei said. “America, who is your elder, your leader and your master, was not able to bring the Iranian nation to its knees. You are too small to bring the Iranian nation to its knees.”
Thousands of people attended the Friday prayers, occasionally interrupting his speech by chanting “God is greatest!” and “Death to America!”
Tensions between Iran and the United States have steadily escalated since Trump withdrew from the nuclear accord, which had imposed restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions.
The U.S. has since imposed crippling sanctions on Iran, including its vital oil and gas industry, pushing the country into an economic crisis that has ignited several waves of sporadic, leaderless protests. Trump has encouraged protesters — even tweeting in Farsi — hoping the protests and the sanctions will bring about fundamental change in a longtime adversary.
Khamenei mocked those efforts, dismissing “these American clowns who falsely and despicably say that they are standing with the Iranian people.”