US President Trump backed away from all-out conflict with Iran on Wednesday, brushing off a missile attack against U.S. troops in Iraq while declining to escalate a confrontation that appeared to be on the brink of spiraling out of control.
A day after Iranian missiles fell on bases housing American troops in Iraq, President Trump said that no Americans were harmed and that Iran now “appears to be standing down.”
He announced fresh sanctions on the Islamic Republic as he said his administration was continuing to evaluate options to respond to “Iranian aggression.” Trump did not disclose what the fresh ones will be.
According to MarketWatch, Trump also called for other nations to break away from the Iran nuclear deal he pulled the U.S. out of, and work together on a new agreement.
Recall, Iran said it launched the strikes late Tuesday in retaliation for the airstrike that killed Iranian Major-General Qasem Soleimani last week.
The U.S. had “multiple hours” of warning prior to the attacks, which was plenty of time for troops to take shelter in bunkers, a defense official told CBS News.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley told reporters Wednesday that 16 short-range ballistic missiles were launched from three locations in Iran during Tuesday night's attack, according to CBS News. Eleven of those missiles landed at Al Asad, one landed at Erbil, and the other four failed, they said.
CNN reports that Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi said Iran sent Iraq an official verbal message that an attack “had begun or would begin shortly,” on unspecified US military locations — but other informed sources are contradicting that timeline.
An Arab diplomatic source told CNN that Iraq gave advance warning to the United States on “which bases would be hit” after Iranian officials passed on the information.
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Esper denied reports that the U.S. was warned of the attack by Iraq, which itself was warned by Iran. According to CBS News, he said that instead, the U.S. warned Iraq of the attack, after its intelligence systems detected preparations for Iran's launch.
