February 07 2020
by Warren L. Nelson
The Islamic Republic took revenge on the United States for the assassination of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soley-mani with an exceedingly mild missile attack on a remote Iraqi base used by the US that destroyed one US helicopter, a number of empty Iraqi buildings and caused concussion injuries but no deaths to a number of US troops.
The Islamic Republic launched the attack January 8, a mere five days after Soleymani was killed. The Iran Times had pointed out in its last issue that Iran commonly waits some length of time before retaliating and even made a point after Soleymani’s death of saying it would wait to choose its own time for retaliation. But the response came surprisingly quickly, suggesting that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenehi, who normally likes to take his time and consult with many people before making such momentous decisions, might have been under pressure from angry figures in the regime to retaliate swiftly.
But, while the speed was remarkable, the actual retaliation was downright unremarkable.
And the Iranian media and officialdom were remarkably confused, with statements switching back and forth between claims of having killed multitudes of Americans to expressions that Iran had consciously avoided killing any Americans. The official statement, given to the Majlis by Maj. Gen. Hossain Salami, commander of the Pasdaran, was: “Our aim was not really to kill enemy soldiers. That was not important.” (See accompanying story on page 9.)
The Pasdaran fired 16 missiles at the Americans, the Pentagon said. (Iran said it fired 13.) One was aimed near Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan and fell just outside the base used there by American troops into an open field between the base and the US consulate. A watchtower was damaged.
The other 15 were fired at an Ain al-Asad, a base used by US and Iraqi troops in western Iraq. Four of those missiles fell short. The other 11 fell inside the US portion of the base, indicating accuracy. But the missiles mostly hit empty structures. Nine huge “tents” that house helicopters when they are under maintenance were hit, but most were empty and only one Blackhawk helicopter was destroyed and a drone damaged, the Pentagon reported. Three pickup trucks were destroyed. Ironically, satellite photos showed a multitude of US helicopters parked in the open, none of which was targeted.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenehi called this a “crushing response” and “delivered a slap to the US image as a superpower” while calling the Americans “clowns.”
Some of the missiles fell on runways and taxiways. One fell on a barracks, but it was empty as the troops had all been sent to bunkers because the US had both seen preparations for missile launches in Iran and been warned by the office of the Iraqi prime minister, who had been notified of the attack in advance by Iran.
But many in Iran said this was just the start of retaliation. Whether that was true or not remains to be seen. Several days later when a US aircraft crashed in Afghanistan, state broadcasting tried to portray that as part of continuing retaliation, but the regime never made any such claim. (See accompanying story on page 14.)
Brig. Gen. Amirali Haji-zadeh, commander of the Pas-daran aerospace force (missiles and planes), said Iran had targeted Ain al-Asad Air Base because it was the base from which the drone that killed Gen. Soleymani was launched. But later, on January 23, he said that drone had taken off from a base in Kuwait.
Hajizadeh also said the January 8 attack was “the start of a major operation that will continue throughout the region.” But nothing has happened since he made that threat.
And he said, “We thought the Americans would retaliate, but they didn’t. They were waiting for a slap in their face and they became a little calm when they faced it. The Americans did not shoot anything at all despite having ample facilities. They did not confront.” Actually, the US forces were not authorized to retaliate on their own. That awaited a decision by Trump, who later announced there would be no retaliation because the Iranian attack was so mild.
While the damage done by the attack was unremarkable, the attack did mark a notable change in Iranian policy. The norm for four decades has been for Iran to attack stealthily, using covert action and refusing to acknowledge any involvement in bombings and assassinations. That changed January 8. Khamenehi made the change and announced it before the attack. He said the Islamic Republic would respond to the Soleymani assassination in its own name. Why he made that change remains unclear—but it has the implication that Washington can directly attack Iran in the future if it wants to because Iran cannot plausibly deny involvement—unless Khamenehi decides to reverse his new policy.
President Rohani boasted of the attack and Iran’s prowess, saying, “The United States is oppressing and carrying out acts of aggression against all countries around the world. Some may respond with words, but the Islamic Republic of Iran shook their base for one night and kept the Pentagon awake for 24 hours.” He seemed aware that the Pentagon has operated 24/7 since before World War II since its involvement is mostly on the opposite side of the world where daytime communications arrive in the middle of the night at the Pentagon.
Rohani also claimed that people around the world mourned Soleymani, although the surprising thing was the lack of grief outside Shiite areas. Many Europeans condemned the assassination as Trumpian rowdiness, but they also dismissed Soleymani as a mass killer. In Sunni Arab areas, celebrations over Soleymani’s death were even reported.
About 1,500 of the 3,500 US troops in Iraq were based at Ain Al-Asad. Some were moved elsewhere the day before the attack. Denmark said 130 Danish troops were also on the base during the attack. The base was locked down at 11 pm. The first missiles, identified by Iran as the Qiam and Fateh-313 types, hit at 1:34 a.m. and fell in three more volleys over the next two hours. Lt. Col. Antoinette Chase said each missile could be detected four to five minutes before they impacted. But there are no air defense missiles at the base. Air defenses have been concentrated around the Persian Gulf—although many Iranian news outlets alleged that no missiles were shot down because the US was incompetent.
President Trump waited a day and a half before addressing the American people, an abnormally long delay compared to previous presidents. He then made a conscious effort to de-escalate tensions with Iran, saying there was no need for any further US actions since no US troops had been killed or injured. Only over successive days did it emerge that dozens of troops had received some level of concussive injuries from missile blasts just outside the bunkers in which they were hunkered down.
Critics of the president then pummeled him for declaring erroneously that there were no injuries, even though he did not know otherwise at the time he spoke. The irony was that Americans who did not want any further military action were attacking Trump’s justification for taking no further military action, which had the impact of encouraging further military action! (See accompanying story at left).
Trump said, “No Americans were harmed in last night’s attack by the Iranian regime. We suffered no casualties. All of our soldiers are safe,” making the same point three times in a row. “Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world. No American or Iraqi lives were lost,” he said for a fourth time.
“As we continue to evaluate options in response to Iranian aggression, the United States will immediately impose additional punishing sanctions on the Iranian regime.” Sanctions were imposed days later, but they were the same symbolic sanctions the Trump Administration has long imposed since there isn’t much left to sanction in Iran.
As for the killing of Soley-mani, the United States notified the United Nations afterward that the murder was self-defense justified under Article 51 of the UN Charter, which says member states are required to “immediately report” to the Security Council when taking any measures exercising the right of self-defense.
Article 51 states in full: “Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security. Measures taken by Members in the exercise of this right of self-defence shall be immediately reported to the Security Council and shall not in any way affect the authority and responsibility of the Security Council under the present Charter to take at any time such action as it deems necessary in order to maintain or restore international peace and security.”
Iran also notified the Security Council in the wake of its attack on Ain al-Asad and used the same Article 51 justification.
Self-defense as cited in the article has normally been defined to mean military action taken immediately to repel an ongoing attack, not retaliatory action taken later and not preventive action taken before an attack.
Meanwhile, renamings started flowing in honor of Gen. Soleymani. The airport at Ahvaz, the Tehran-Saveh Freeway, which passes near the site where the recently shot down Ukrainian airliner crashed, the Mehran border crossing post with Iraq and a new bridge under construction in Shiraz are all being named after the late general.