Mourners gather to pay their respects to the slain Gen. Qassem Soleimani who was killed in a U.S. airstrike, in Kerman, Iran
Soon after multiple ballistic missiles were launched on Iraq airbases housing US troops on Wednesday, Iran has threatened to bomb Israel and Dubai if the United States retaliates to the missile attack. Iran's Revolutionary Guard warned the US and its regional allies against retaliating over the missile attack. More than a dozen missiles were fired at two Iraqi bases housing American troops in a revenge attack for the US drone strike that killed top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani on Friday.
The warning was issued via a statement carried by Iran's state-run IRNA news agency.
'We are warning all American allies, who gave their bases to its terrorist army, that any territory that is the starting point of aggressive acts against Iran will be targeted,' it said.
Another television channel of the Guard also threatened to bomb Dubai and Haifa in Israel.
According to Iranian TV, the rockets used in the missile attack were Fatteh-110 ballistic missiles, which have a range of 186 miles or 300km. The Iranian air force has since deployed multiple fighter jets to patrol its airspace, according to reports - as Iran warned the U.S. and its allies in the region not to retaliate.
The Pentagon said it was working on a battle damage assessment. There have been no reported US casualties, according to two US sources with direct knowledge of actions on the ground.
“At approximately 5:30 p.m. (EST) on January 7, Iran launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles against U.S. military and coalition forces in Iraq. It is clear that these missiles were launched from Iran and targeted at least two Iraqi military bases hosting U.S. military and coalition personnel at Al-Assad and Irbil,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
Meanwhile, a statement from Iran said the “fierce revenge by the Revolutionary Guards has begun.”
Iranian state TV says the missile strikes were retaliation for the killing of Revolutionary Guard General Qasem Soleimani, whose death last week in an American drone strike near Baghdad prompted angry calls to avenge his slaying.
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