Iran retaliates: Ballistic missiles target US base in Iraq in 'warning to American allies'

At least nine rockets slammed into an Iraqi airbase where US and coalition forces are based, AFP reported on Wednesday. It is not immediately known whether the incident resulted in any casulaties. CNN reported a Pentagon statement pinning the blame on Iran. BBC reported that Iran's Revolutionary Guards said the attack was in retaliation against the assassination of Qasem Soleimani. "We are warning all American allies, who gave their bases to its terrorist army, that any territory that is the starting point of aggressive acts against Iran will be targeted," it said via a statement carried by Iran's state-run IRNA news agency. The Iranian parliament had yesterday approved a bill that designates United States military forces as terrorists. 

The attack on the Ain al-Asad airbase came after pro-Tehran factions in Iraq had vowed to join forces to "respond" to an American drone strike that killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi top commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in Baghdad last week.

US President Donald Trump tweeted in the aftermath of the attack: "All is well! Missiles launched from Iran at two military bases located in Iraq. Assessment of casualties & damages taking place now. So far, so good! We have the most powerful and well equipped military anywhere in the world, by far! I will be making a statement tomorrow morning."

The US has increased its force "protection postures" in the Middle East in view of Iran's aggressive stance, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said. During a Pentagon news conference, Esper asserted that the US has received widespread support for its actions from allies and partners in the region. "We will continue to work with them to protect American gains against the ISIS," he said. The US remains committed to its strategic priorities in the Middle East such as deterring Iranian bad behaviour and sustaining the enduring defeat of the ISIS, the defense secretary said. The architects of terror should know that we will not tolerate attacks against America's people and interest and will exercise our right to self-defense should that become necessary once again, Esper said. Responding to a question, he said the US is not seeking war with Iran. I think what happens next depends on them. We should expect that they will retaliate in some way, shape or form either through their proxies as they have been doing now for—but for how many years or by—and war with by their own hand and so we take this one step at a time, Esper said.

At the same time, Iraq's outgoing prime minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi said that the United States has no alternative and must pull its troops out of the country, or else face an impending crisis.  His comments came just days after the US airstrike killed Soleimani. Thousands of mourners followed the procession from the border, chanting 'America is the great Satan'." We have no exit but this, otherwise we are speeding toward confrontation," Abdul-Mahdi said in a prerecorded televised speech following a weekly cabinet meeting. He said the historic decision was necessary, otherwise they would not be taken seriously."

US troops are present in Iraq based on a request by the government in 2014, when vast swathes of the country were being overrun by the Islamic State group. But now that IS has been largely defeated, Abdul-Mahdi said, the mission has devolved into a US-Iran proxy war. Iraq was barely starting to recover from the devastating four-year war against IS when mass protests erupted in October against the country's ruling elite, forcing Abdul-Mahdi to resign two months later. He hasn't been replaced. Referring to the fight against Islamic State extremists, he said: Iraq did its part to fight in the war, and I see that any harm to Iraq will be harmful to all regional states and the whole world. 

-Inputs from PTI, AFP