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Trump says US targeting 52 sites in Iran, as tension mounts
WASHINGTON, Jan 5, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – President Donald Trump warned Saturday
that the US is targeting 52 sites in Iran and will hit them “very fast and
very hard” if the Islamic republic attacks American personnel or assets.
In a saber-rattling tweet that defended Friday’s US drone strike
assassination of a powerful Iranian general in Iraq, Trump said 52 represents
the number of Americans held hostage at the US embassy in Tehran for more
than a year starting in late 1979.
Trump said some of these sites are “at a very high level & important to
Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT
VERY FAST AND VERY HARD. The USA wants no more threats!”
Trump spoke out after pro-Iran factions ramped up pressure on US
installations across Iraq with missiles and warnings to Iraqi troops — part
of an outburst of fury over the killing of Qasem Soleimani, described as the
second most-powerful man in Iran.
With Iran promising revenge, his killing was the most dramatic escalation
yet in spiraling tensions between Washington and Tehran and has prompted
fears of a major conflagration in the Middle East.
In the first hints of a possible retaliatory response, two mortar rounds
hit an area near the US embassy in Baghdad on Saturday, security sources told
AFP.
Almost simultaneously, two rockets slammed into the Al-Balad airbase where
American troops are deployed, security sources said.
The Iraqi military confirmed the missile attacks in Baghdad and on al-Balad
and said there were no casualties. The US military also said no coalition
troops were hurt.
With Americans wondering fearfully if, how and where Iran will hit back for
the assassination, the US Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin
that said “at this time there is no specific, credible threat against the
homeland.”
While no one claimed the attacks in Baghdad, a hardline pro-Iran faction in
Iraq’s Hashed al-Shaabi military network shortly after urged Iraqis to move
away from US forces.
“We ask security forces in the country to get at least 1,000 meters away
from US bases starting on Sunday at 5:00pm (1400 GMT),” said Kataeb
Hezbollah.
The deadline would coincide with a parliament session on Sunday which the
Hashed has insisted should see a vote on the ouster of US troops.
Washington has blamed the vehemently anti-American group for a series of
rocket attacks in recent weeks targeting US diplomats and troops stationed
across Iraq.
– ‘Direct war’ –
Many fear the American strike that killed Iran’s military mastermind
Soleimani would set off a wider conflict with Iran, and have braced for more
attacks.
“This is no longer a proxy war,” said Erica Gaston, a non-resident fellow
at the New America Foundation.
“What you have is America attacking an Iranian general directly, and groups
are now openly fighting for Iran to avenge him. This is a direct war,” she
told AFP.
MORE/MSY/0911 hrs
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The US strike on Baghdad international airport early Friday killed a total
of five Iranian Revolutionary Guards and five members of Iraq’s Hashed.
Among the dead was Hashed’s deputy head Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a top
adviser and personal friend to Soleimani.
As head of the Guards’ foreign operations arm, the Quds Force, Soleimani
was a powerful figure domestically and oversaw Iran’s wide-ranging
interventions in regional power struggles.
Trump has said Soleimani was planning an “imminent” attack on US personnel
in Baghdad and should have been killed “many years ago”.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei promised “severe revenge” for
Soleimani’s death and Tehran named Soleimani’s deputy, Esmail Qaani, to
succeed him.
Tens of thousands of Iraqis including Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi,
political leaders and clerics attended a mass ceremony on Saturday to honor
Soleimani and the other victims.
They waved white Hashed flags and massive portraits of Iranian and Iraqi
leaders, furiously calling for “revenge” and chanting “Death to America!”
The remains were moved from Baghdad to the shrine city of Karbala and then
Najaf, where the Iraqis will be buried and from whose airports the Guards are
to be flown to Iran.
Tehran has slammed the strike as an “act of war” and Abdel Mahdi said it
could bring “devastating” violence to Iraq.
World powers quickly called for a de-escalation.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif mocked as “foolish” a
diplomatic effort by the United States, which he said had sent a letter to
Iranian officials through a Swiss envoy since Tehran and Washington have not
had direct diplomatic ties for decades.
– Ousting ‘the occupier’ –
The attacks on Saturday evening appeared to be precisely the reaction
Iraqis had long feared: tit-for-tat strikes between the Hashed and the US on
Iraqi soil.
Early on Saturday, the Hashed had claimed a new strike hit their convoy
north of Baghdad, with Iraqi state media blaming the US.
But the US-led coalition denied involvement, telling AFP: “There was no
American or coalition strike” on Saturday.
Iraq’s pro-Iran factions have seized on Soleimani’s death to demand
parliament decree that US forces leave Iraq.
“We either vote on the occupation forces leaving, or we remain subservient,
robbed of our will and dignity,” said MP Ahmad al-Kinany of the Hashed’s
political bloc, Fatah.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0911 hrs