“While Iraq rejects any violation of its sovereignty and attacks on its soil, the government continues its efforts aimed at preventing escalation and for everyone to respect Iraqi sovereignty, for it not to be violated, and for its children not to be put in harm’s way,” Abdul-Mahdi stated.
Iran fired missiles, 22 according to figures from Iraq’s Security Media Cell, at bases in Anbar and the Kurdistan Region where troops of the US-led coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS) are stationed early Wednesday morning. This is the latest escalation in hostilities between Iran and the US playing out on Iraqi soil and came as Iran buried Gen. Qasem Soleimani who was killed by a US drone strike in Baghdad on Friday along with deputy head of Iraq’s Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
After their deaths, Abdul-Mahdi issued a forceful statement, in which he condemned the US strike “with the utmost degree of condemnation and rejection.” He had also attended parliament to urge passing a resolution to demand the withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq and had his foreign ministry file a formal complaint with the United Nations. His statement reacting to Iran’s missile strike was comparatively less severe.
The government in Baghdad enjoys close ties with Tehran. Abdul-Mahdi said he was given a “verbal message” before the missile strikes from Iranian President Hassan Rouhani that Iran was going to retaliate, specifically against locations where US troops are stationed in Iraq, though he did not detail which location would be targeted. “We immediately warned Iraqi military commanders to take the necessary precautions,” read the prime minister’s statement.
Abdul-Mahdi said he also received a call from the Americans as missiles were falling.
The prime minister, who is in the role as a caretaker after resigning in November in the face of anti-government protests, “has been making the necessary domestic and external calls in an effort to contain the situation and not enter into an open war, in which Iraq and the region will be the first casualties,” added the statement from his office, calling on everyone to exercise self-restraint.
There are no reported casualties among Iraqi or coalition military personnel.
US President Donald Trump tweeted that assessments were ongoing after the strikes and said “So far, so good! We have the most powerful and well equipped military anywhere in the world, by far!”
He will be making a statement later in the day.
Iraq’s Iran-backed Shiite militias have issued threats, leaving little room for doubt that there could be further escalation. “The initial Iranian response on the assassination of the martyr commander Soleimani has taken place, and now it is time for Iraq’s first response to the assassination of the martyr commander al-Muhandis,” Qais al-Khazali, a notorious Iran-backed leader, said, according to a PMF-linked TV channel, al-Masar.
