WEB DESK
Defence Secretary Mark Esper has said that the United States has re-established some deterrence towards Iran in the wake of last Friday’s drone strike.
The strike killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad. Esper told reporters that the strike US took against Kataeb Hezbollah in late December and then last week are indication that it has restored a level of deterrence with them.
Esper’s comments came after Iran fired a volley of ballistic missiles yesterday into two bases in Iraq that house US troops, in response to Soleimani’s killing. No US or Iraqi personnel were killed in those strikes, and reports said the US knew that an attack was coming. The Pentagon said its own “early warning systems” detected the incoming missiles in advance, allowing personnel to avoid injury.
US Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley dismissed suggestions that Iran did not intend to kill Americans with its missile barrage. He said based on the field evidence it is understood that they intended to cause structural damage, destroy equipment and aircraft and to kill army personnel.