TEHRAN – The Pentagon has confirmed that Iran launched “more than a dozen ballistic missiles" at two targets hosting against U.S. military and coalition forces in Iraq.
Defense Department spokesman Jonathan Hoffman says “It is clear that these missiles were launched from Iran." He says the attacks “targeted at least two Iraqi military bases" at Ain Assad and Irbil.
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Iranian state TV said the attack was in revenge for the killing of Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, whose funeral Tuesday prompted angry calls to avenge his death.
News4Jax spoke with Ken Timmerman, the president of the Foundation of Democracy in Iran. He’s an author with about 35 years as a war correspondent.
“What we saw tonight was I think extraordinary in a way,” Timmerman said. “Everybody had been expecting retaliation through surrogates through proxy groups --something that the Iranians could say, ‘Well, we didn’t really do it.’ Some kind of retaliation that would give them a plausible deniability. This is exactly the opposite! The Iranians themselves announced that they launched these missiles against bases in Iraq.”
A U.S. official said there were very few, if any, casualties from Tuesday night’s Iranian missile attack on two Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of a Pentagon briefing.
Following the missile strikes, President Trump tweeted:
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.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2020