Daily Times

BAGHDAD: Iraqi  Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi received word from Iran that its response to the US killing of its top general was either imminent or under way, his spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Iranian forces fired missiles at military bases housing US troops in Iraq in retaliation for the US killing of the Iranian general, raising the stakes in its conflict with Washington amid concern of a wider war in the Middle East.

“Shortly after midnight on Wednesday we received a verbal message from the Islamic Republic of Iran that the Iranian response to the assassination of the martyr Qassem Soleimani had started or was about to start,” his spokesperson said.

Tehran told Abdul Mahdi it would only target locations where US forces were present but did not specify the locations, the spokesperson said in a statement.

Abdul Mahdi received a call from the United States while missiles were falling on the American wing of the air base in Anbar province and an air base in Erbil, the spokesperson said.

There have been no reports of casualties from either the Iraqi military or the US-led coalition, he said.

In early hours of Wednesday, Iran launched missiles at US-led forces in Iraq on Wednesday in retaliation for the US drone strike on an Iranian commander whose killing last week stoked fears of a new Middle East war.

Iranian state television said Iran had fired 15 missiles at US targets in Iraq early on Wednesday.

The US military said at least two Iraqi facilities hosting US-led coalition personnel were targeted at about 1:30am Iraq time (2230 GMT on Tuesday).

Iraq said 22 missiles were fired. 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 after days of mourning was completed around the time of the missile launches.

Iranian television showed mourners celebrating the attack.