US President Donald Trump today promised to respond to Iranian missile attacks on American forces in the Middle East, DPA reported, quoted by BTA.
"We will crush them in battle", Trump said in an interview with "Fox News". "We will hit them hard; they will get a big fart", he added.
Trump has repeatedly threatened Iran with serious military action during the months-long conflict, but his statements have not always been followed by strikes, DPA notes.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said yesterday that Iran had launched several ballistic missiles at American forces in the Middle East. The military did not specify which bases were targeted. According to CENTCOM, all the missiles were successfully intercepted.
In an interview with "Fox News", Trump said that US forces had only minutes to respond to the attack.
Iranian state media broadcast a statement from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, saying that a US military base in Jordan had been targeted. The Jordanian armed forces said they had intercepted five missiles.
CENTCOM also said that US forces, together with Saudi Arabia, had carried out strikes against Iran-aligned groups in Iraq.
Trump called the groups "a cancerous growth" and stated that the military operation was coordinated with the Iraqi government.
Shortly afterwards, however, the Iraqi president's office condemned, without mentioning the United States or Saudi Arabia, the "bombardments against the Popular Mobilization Forces" bases and called them "an unacceptable attack and a clear violation of Iraq's sovereignty, targeting its official institutions".
The resumption of hostilities in the Middle East came after several days of relative lull in the conflict, notes Agence France-Presse.
The Iraqi president's office condemned the US-Saudi strikes against the "Popular Mobilization Forces" ("Hashd Shaabi") – alliance of Iraqi armed groups including pro-Iranian factions, reported Agence France-Presse.
The office, which did not name the United States and Saudi Arabia, condemned the "bombardment of "Hashd al-Shaabi" bases and said it was "an unacceptable attack and a gross violation of Iraq's sovereignty, targeting its official institutions".
However, US President Donald Trump told "Fox News" that the attacks on the Iraqi groups were "coordinated" with the Iraqi government.