Second attack this week on Iraqi airbase hosting US troops
Multiple rockets were launched at Iraq's Ain al-Asad airbase housing US-led forces late on Thursday, American and Iraqi sources said, with no damage or casualties reported.
Multiple rockets were launched at Iraq's Ain al-Asad airbase housing US-led forces late on Thursday, American and Iraqi sources said, with no damage or casualties reported.
Two US officials said the base itself had not been struck in the attack. This was the second such attack this week. Two drones were fired at the base on Tuesday, with no casualties.
The attack came two days after a military summit in Washington where Iraqi and US officials discussed winding down the coalition's work a decade after it was formed to fight Islamic State as it stormed across Iraq and Syria.
No major announcement was made at the end of the talks, though US and Iraqi sources say an announcement that it will begin to gradually wind down is likely in the coming weeks.
Iran’s Islamic government has long campaigned for US troops to leave Iraq, where it has established wide-ranging influence by creating armed militia groups. As a result, Iran-aligned Iraqi political and military factions have pressured the country's government to quickly draw down the coalition's work and say they want all 2,500 troops deployed by the country's one-time occupier to leave.
Washington and the Iraqi government say they want to transition to a bilateral security relationship that would likely see some troops remain in an advisory role.
US-led forces invaded Iraq in 2003, toppled former leader Saddam Hussein and then withdrew in 2011, only to return in 2014 to fight Islamic State at the head of the coalition.
Iran-backed Iraqi armed factions have targeted bases housing US troops in Iraq and Syria over the years and particularly since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7, though there have only been a handful of attacks since February, when the US retaliated and an unofficial truce took hold.
The latest attacks come after Masoud Pezeshkian, who is presented as a “moderate” won the presidential election in Iran, raising some expectations in the West that he might restart nuclear talks. However, the United States has dismissed such suggestions, giving little credence to major changes under the new president.
His statement was made alongside a video clip of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to the US Congress on Wednesday, where Netanyahu emphasized Iran's threats.
On Truth Social, Trump wrote, “If they do ‘assassinate President Trump,’ which is always a possibility, I hope that America obliterates Iran, wipes it off the face of the Earth — If that does not happen, American Leaders will be considered ‘gutless’ cowards!”
US authorities were reportedly aware of an alleged Iranian plan to assassinate Trump before an attempt on his life occurred at a rally. On July 13, twenty-year-old Thomas Michael Crooks opened fire at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, killing a former volunteer fire chief and injuring two others. Trump was slightly injured in his ear.
However, no direct link has been found between the reported Iranian plot and the attempted assassination.
In a recent interview with Iran International, Trump's former national security aide John Bolton said that naturally Trump would take the Iranian threat personally.
Trump withdrew from the Obama-era JCPAO nuclear deal with Iran in 2018 and imposed heavy sanctions, that have crippled Iran's weak economy.
Relations between the US and Iran became more strained since the 2020 US drone strike that killed Qasem Soleimani, the former commander of the Revolutionary Guards Quds Force, and Iran's top military intelligence operative in the Middle East.
Iranian officials, both political and military, have persistently issued threats against Trump and former members of his administration to avenge Soleimani's death, who orchestrated Iran's proxy operations throughout the region. For instance, in February 2023, Amirali Hajizadeh, the head of the Revolutionary Guards aerospace force, explicitly declared that the Islamic Republic intends to kill Trump.
In January 2022, Iran's former President Ebrahim Raisi vowed retaliation for Soleimani's killing unless former US President Donald Trump was brought to trial.
"If Trump and (former Secretary of State Mike) Pompeo are not tried in a fair court for the criminal act of assassinating General Soleimani, Muslims will take our martyr's revenge," Raisi said in a televised speech.
In 2022, the US Justice Department brought charges against a member of the IRGC for plotting to assassinate John Bolton, Trump's former national security adviser, likely in retaliation for Soleimani's death. Similar threats have been directed at other former Trump administration officials, including Mike Pompeo and Robert O'Brien, who continue to have security details due to ongoing risks.
Soleimani played a crucial role in Iran's external military and intelligence operations, often orchestrating hostilities against US forces in the region. Despite Iran's denials, the security concerns for those involved in the decision to kill Soleimani remain significant, necessitating ongoing protection measures.
Trump's post echoes his controversial rhetoric from 2019, when he threatened the "obliteration" of Iran if they attacked "anything American."
