By Tony O’Riley-
Iran has threatened to expel all U.S forces from its region as its final retaliation for the U.S killing of one of its most prominent generals last week.
The threat came after it carried out a ballistic missile attack on air bases housing US forces in Iraq, in retaliation for the US killing of General Qasem Soleimani. Over a dozen missiles launched from Iran struck two air bases in Irbil and Al Asad, west of Baghdad.
Two Iraqi bases housing U.S and coalition troops were targeted, one at Al Asad and one in Irbil, at about 02:00 local time on Wednesday (22:30 GMT on Tuesday). It came just hours after the burial of Soleimani, who controlled Iran’s proxy forces across the Middle East.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei said the attack was “a slap in the face” for the US and called for an end to the US presence in the Middle East. Iraq’s Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said Iran warned him that an attack was imminent and only areas with US troops would be targeted. There were no reports of Iraqi casualties, he said.
“Between 1:45 a.m. and 2:45 a.m., Iraq came under an attack of 22 missiles,” the Iraqi military said in a statement. “All missiles struck coalition bases.”
In a televised address to the nation Wednesday, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that Iran gave the U.S “a slap in the face last night,” in reference to the attacks
Hours after the missile strikes a Ukrainian airliner crashed in Iran shortly after take-off.