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Iran Retaliates for Suleimani Strike

Iran carried out an attack against U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq at 1:30am local time, launching more than twenty missiles against two military bases. Iran immediately claimed responsibility for the strike, which it said was retaliation for the U.S. assassination of Maj. Gen. Qassem Suleimani on Friday. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps issued a statement warning of more attacks if the United States responded.

No U.S. or Iraqi casualties were immediately reported, though a Pentagon assessment was ongoing. Late Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump was monitoring the situation with his national security team at the White House. Trump did not deliver an address to the country on Tuesday night in Washington, but tweeted “All is well!” and said he would speak on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, administration officials said the United States would be prepared to respond to retaliation.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif seemed to signal that the missile attack “concluded” Iran’s response for Suleimani’s killing. “Iran took & concluded proportionate measures in self-defense,” he tweeted.

Oil prices initially jumped on the news of the attacks, before settling as the limited nature of the Iranian strike seemed to calm markets. But stock markets in Asia dropped sharply—with investors predicting a bad day for the U.S. market.

Widening fallout. U.S. officials again sought to justify the assassination of Maj. Gen. Qassem Suleimani earlier on Tuesday, with Defense Secretary Mark Esper saying that the Quds Force chief was planning an attack on U.S. interests within “days.” Now, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other senior officials are being asked to testify about that intelligence before Congress.

Back in Baghdad. The fallout of Suleimani’s death could preserve Iran’s power in Iraq, Pesha Magid reports for FP. Though the mass anti-government protests that began in October posed a major challenge to Iran’s influence, the targeted strike has shifted their demands.

“Protesters find their demands for a new government have been sidelined into a desperate push against foreign interference from the United States as well as Iran,” she writes.