Live updates: Iran strikes back at US with missile attack at bases in Iraq

The National Security Committee will convene in Canberra tomorrow for crunch talks on whether to withdraw Australia’s 300 troops from Iraq after Iran launched missiles at US-led forces  in retaliation for the US drone strike. 

The National Security Committee will convene in Canberra tomorrow for crunch talks on whether to withdraw Australia’s 300 troops from Iraq. 

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Prime Minister Scott Morrison is meeting Chief of the Defence Force General Angus Campbell and is in high-level discussions with American military and intelligence officials as Australia considered the ramifications of Iran’s missile strikes aimed at American military bases in Iraq.

Australia is also watching how the United States responded to the attacks at the Ain al-Assad base in western Anbar province, and in the northern Kurdish city of Erbil.

The Australian Defence Force is putting together contingency plans for a range of options, including a potential pull-out.

Most of Australia’s 280 regular troops are stationed with their New Zealand counterparts at the Taji Military Complex, known as Camp Taji, northwest of Baghdad, which did not come under direct attack.

Earlier, Iranian officials said Tehran did not want a war and its strikes “concluded” its response to Friday’s killing of Qassem Soleimani, a powerful general whose burial in Iran after days of mourning was completed around the same time as Iran’s missile launches. Iranian state television showed mourners celebrating the attack.

US President Donald Trump said in a tweet that an assessment of casualties and damage from the strikes was under way and that he would make a statement on Wednesday morning.

“All is well!” Trump, who visited one of the targeted sites in Iraq, Ain al-Asad air base, in December 2018, said on Twitter.

One source said early indications were of no US casualties, while other US officials declined to comment.

The Iraqi military says there are no casualties among its troops as a result of an Iranian missile strike at bases in Iraq used by US forces, AP reports. The military said in a statement carried by the state news agency Wednesday that the attack lasted half an hour, starting at 1:45 am local time. The statement said 22 missiles were fired. Seventeen missiles hit al-Asad air base, including two that did not explode in the Hitan area west of the town of Hit. Five other missiles hit the northern region of Erbil.

Iranian state television said 80 “American terrorists” had been killed and US helicopters and military equipment damaged. It did not provide evidence of how it obtained that information.

Germany, Denmark and Norway said none of their troops in Iraq were killed or injured. Iraq also said there were no casualties in its forces. The force advised the United States to withdraw its troops from the region to prevent more deaths and warned US allies including Israel not to allow attacks from their territories.

Iranian television reported an official in Supreme Leader Ali Khameni’s office as saying the missile attacks were the “weakest” of several retaliation scenarios. It quoted another source saying Iran had 100 other potential targets in its sights.

Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said the bases targeted were al-Asad air base and another facility in Erbil, Iraq.

“As we evaluate the situation and our response, we will take all necessary measures to protect and defend US personnel, partners, and allies in the region,” Hoffman said.

If the US military was spared casualties and Iran takes no further measures to retaliate for Soleimani’s killing, there might be an opportunity for Washington and Tehran to seek a way out to their increasingly violent confrontation. Meanwhile, the US Federal Aviation Administration said it would ban US airlines from operating in the airspace over Iraq, Iran, the Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Other national airlines also issued warnings about flying over the region.

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Originally published as Live updates: Iran strikes back at US with missile attack at bases in Iraq

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