So in the dark without light so that theyre not easy targets there was a time when planes would would come to the major bases in iraq that they would do socalled corkscrew landings so that they would minimize their exposure on the way down but this is precisely the kind of provocation the pentagon was expecting maybe a little bolder in scale than they had expected previously but it is exactly the kind of thing that the president that the defense secretary and that the secretary of state here in the United States have been warning against the question now is what will they do to retaliate we know the white house is monitoring these events they have been briefed the pentagon had apparently closed early for snow but there are now people there meeting in secure areas presumably talking about what the response would be of course the u. S. Central command will be on this they have confirmed that these rocket attacks have happened as well so youll have people in the region talking to people here in washington and it will be the people here in washington who will be deciding the larger strategy of retaliation and communicating that down the chain of command and assad but idea of what the u. S. Does. Next either on the ground in iraq from iraq or from someplace else because clearly the u. S. Has interests dotted all around the middle east the pentagon a senior saying quote we will take all necessary measures to protect and defend u. S. Personnel partners and allies in the region but that statement from the pentagon not being too cynical about it thats just chaff thats giving themselves time to think about not reacting not overreacting and not under reacting because the relationship is so combustible so tinder dry is there a sense there in washington john that theyve got to get it right. Absolutely there is real consternation on capitol hill normally when the u. S. Is facing a military crisis like this the population tends to support the action even if they later dont they tend to support the leadership and in congress you tend to have democrats and republicans both on one side but as this situation has escalated its really become a partisan issue here in washington as well joe biden the democratic president ial candidate for Vice President spoke out today saying that trump has not offered anough evidence that is something the Administration Says they will do on wednesday of Congress Presenting the evidence that they had that cost him sulaimani posed an immediate and dire threat and that justified assassinating him was word by the way the u. S. Does not like to use in relation to this so this has become a very controversial issue there a lot of people in the u. S. And particularly a lot of democrats on capitol hill who say that President Trump went too far on this unless the evidence later shows that it was justified that custom sulaimani was planning attacks that would take the lives of americans in the coming days that is an assertion that was made by the u. S. Defense secretary mark esper just hours ago he said it was within days that those attacks would be claiming in americans of course right now we have attacks on 2 bases where americans are housed in iraq the pentagon has not told us what the outcome of that is whether people have been hurt or killed and of course that process takes hours but you can bet that right now what theyre doing in those bases is examining all the security all the signal intelligence satellite intelligence all of the security cameras at those bases there determining precisely where these attacks came from and considering what theyre going to do but youre absolutely right theyre going to want to get this right and thats why it is probably unlikely that we will see. Retaliatory attack in the next few hours unless the decision has been made in washington and that is a possibility because the reporting here is that President Trump was presented with an array of possible options and the most extreme of those just days ago was the assassination of qassam sulaimani and surprising a number of his senior military advisers were told that he chose that option so he is capable of being decisive in short order if necessary what were waiting to hear is exactly what the u. S. Response will be ok for the moment john many thanks well that statement has been a suit by the assistant to the secretary of defense it confirms iran launched more than a dozen Ballistic Missiles against u. S. Military and Coalition Forces in iraq its clear that these missiles were launched from iran and targeted at least 2 Iraqi Military bases hosting u. S. Military and Coalition Personnel and bill the statement goes on to say we will take whole necessary measures to protect and defend u. S. Personnel partners and allies in the region and also john one remembers donald trump was at the base i think it was about what must be 1415 months ago so when he gives a News Conference chances are they will write that into what hes saying everyone had been saying however john whether its in washington iraq baghdad or indeed in tehran everyone has been saying once the period of mourning customs of the money had passed then there would be something but nobody was anticipating something as significant and as much of a cross a a bulls eye as going for u. S. Interests on the ground in iraq. To run could not possibly have made a bolder statement youre right President Trump was there in 2018 december of 2018 little over a year ago mike pence was at this base is well it is a well protected base but there are a lot of noble targets in there because you just cant simply protect everything from rocket attacks so ron is sending that message to the u. S. And in its message as i understand it they said that terrans retaliation has begun what it doesnt say is that its ended and that means this could continue there those attacks could can could still be ongoing and then that could of course. Prompt retaliatory responses from the u. S. And the pentagon and the white house right now will be gauging what level of response is justified and theyre going to want to walk the line between a strong response and not launching into a hot war against iran which would would be devastating its the kind of thing that President Trump has promised he would get he would get the United States out of there is a sense of an ending war involving the United States in afghanistan and iraq and the last thing the president wants and the last thing that many of his supporters want is a war with iran the president said just today in his briefing i did i campaigned against us being in iraq but now we have to stay there i dont think he wants to dedicate more troops weve recently seen a number of troops go to that region and that has swelled to about 50000. 00 american troops including most recently a Marine ExpeditionaryExpeditionary Force including marines and sailors and then there was the 82nd airborne one of the fastest deploying units in the United States its supposed to be able to deploy within 18 hours so the u. S. Commitment is is very strong there right now and the last thing the white house wants to do is prompt a hot war so theyre going to be very carefully calibrating what that response is we dont know whether that will be within hours days could be even weeks. Ok john for the moment many thanks weve been reporting here on aljazeera and were extending our coverage because of these developing aspects to do these twin attacks coming to us out of iraq irans Islamic Revolutionary guard corps otherwise known as the odd i. R. G. C. Claiming responsibility for that missile attack the 1st one on the al Assad Air Base in iraq u. S. Troops are stationed there the pentagon says another base in bill was also targeted of course this is highly significant this is the 1st direct retaliation that people were predicting after the period of mourning had passed for the iranian iranian general concepts of the money 3 days of official mourning. There is a distinct sense that one gets a direct attack on u. S. Forces greatly increases the danger of some sort of ongoing ugly asymmetric conflict between the u. S. And iran on iraqi soil or indeed in various locations around the broader middle east lets talk to osama bin hes a correspondent in baghdad and i notice as well osama the revolutionary guard saying basically israel is potentially a target as well because they see israel as a u. S. Ally in the killing of sulaimani that was pretty predictable. Absolutely peter if you remember on friday night thats exactly what we were discussing custom silly money was a figure who was a regional figure wasnt really money was not just any an ordinary iranians generally he had following from iran to syria to lebanon to iraq i mean assad the messages which came out from the groups that he had trained here supported he funded that they will they will take revenge this is something that everybody here in iraq fear iraq again seems to be versed expectation that iraq that it will again become a theater of confrontation between world powers seem to be coming true again tonight as iraq was the place where the United States chose to take out the money the head of the qods force and iraq again is the place where the iranians chose to attack u. S. Forces as well and u. S. Interests are far and wide in this region and iran says that it has assets on the ground groups that are ideologically aligned ordered support in all of those places where the presence of u. S. Forces is it is it seems like that this fear that everybody had in iraq that there is going to be retaliation and that. Might happen on iraqi soil has come true weve been hearing the Iraqi Government making all sorts of appeals to World Leaders that it does not want to get involved in this conflict the iraqi Prime Minister on sunday going to his Parliament Saying that now that the theater has changed now the conflicts nature has changed the Coalition Troops which were invited by iraq to fight against isis will be defending themselves and it will be a burden on their up the Security Forces to protect them as well and that seems to be the case tonight where i know the bases been hit. Erbil has been had it really is the 2nd target that has been hit and that has been confirmed by both 6 forces inside. The northern kurdish region as well as pentagon and weve been hearing about the location of what the possible locations that could be there are multiple assets that the American Government has on the ground in the kurdish region there is the u. S. Base just adjacent to the airport it is it is again. And many operations against inside syria including air strikes were being conducted and then it has and then the base in just north of and then there is the u. S. Consulate there as well so according to some sources inside the kurdish region there were some anti Missile Systems that were in place where they were effective they were able to stop any of the missiles is not clear and it is not yet clear what sort of damage has been caused in both of these places there is as weve seen since friday night there is a lot of rumor mongering that has been going on in social media about casualties and damage but again so far no official confirmation from either the iraqis the combined joint task force or the pentagon about how if there has been any casualties and what kind of damage have these missiles inflicted and on the point of whats going on around social media and notice as well as some of the Reuters News Agency quoting the gods advising the u. S. Courts to withdraw its troops from that region to prevent the killing of more soldiers we dont know that has not been even touched on by the pentagon it would perhaps from where this goes next question big very very good if no american lives were lost because mr trump in that News Conference at the white house 6 hours ago now returned again and again and again when he was asked when he was pressed quote. Firmly as to why customs of the money was killed he said he killed he was responsible for the death of 1. 00 american so more than one or 2 or 3 or half a dozen americans have been killed in this airstrike on this u. S. Base in iraq the u. S. Reaction then might be doubly strong. That is the that is the nightmare scenario according to some Iraqi Security officials who weve met they say that this could spark a Chain Reaction if you kill one general for one american and they come back and kill more americans what do you do how many do you take out and then what happens afterwards so that is the fear here especially in iraq iraq has been the theater of war for the last 20 years if not longer iraq has seen all sorts of turmoil in its come from bitter sectarian fights to the rise of oil. And then it has faced many fight before and lost thousands and thousands of lives and that is what iraqis fear the more say that there was nothing that weve done to deserve this it wasnt a look ation of our choosing where the American Star going to class and still in money and one m. P. I spoke to at the Parliament Told me that the United States at least respects iran enough that it is sending messages to scale down tensions it is sending media reason to sending. Various indirect notes to iran to bring down the tensions but it is not even talking to iraq the United States didnt even consulted up when it wanted to carry out that operation and a lot of people were hurt by this statement when the u. S. President said that iraq is will have to pave did decide to make u. S. Forces leave they will have to pay with their. Institutions for the bases that the United States has built there will come under sanctions and that is something that iraq is really took an offense to saying that there is a lot of sacrifices that iraqis have made for not just the United States but the rest of the world as well in the fight against isis and then again for a fall no fault of their own they have come under attack it is going to be interesting to see as this story develops of what kind of military hardware was used what kind of because weve been hearing that the American Forces were making preparations what kind of safety mechanism. Very pleased if there has been damage what kind of damage has been made both to personnel or facilities so it is going to be a very difficult few hours not just for iraqi forces here as well but for the Coalition Forces many of whom including the canadians and the germans were planning to leave for their security and safety do you feel do you think osama that the iranians would have told the iraqis this is what were going to do that big airbase halfway between baghdad and the Syrian Border and the other base up in erbil itll happen tonight. It is possible but very unlikely iran. Feels that and then the sense that weve got from some pro iran fighters here is that iran feels that there was a lapse on iraqs part when money was assassinated usually i sincerely money did go around using a normal a mobile network or something but his movements were very closely guarded guarded and until he would leave a location it would not be disclosed so it is very unlikely that iraqi Security ForcesIraqi Government would have been taken into account because that again would put the Iraqi Government into a very awkward position because it does the host of the u. S. Coalition on its own invitation although its parliamentarians have said that theyre no longer wanted but legally they are here on iraqs requests and if there is an imminent threat to the Coalition Forces which are here to defend iraq it would be bound to release that information to them so having all of that context in mind it appears that it would be unlikely that the iranians would have taken the iraqis into confidence but the reunions had warrant that every u. S. Base you heard from generals to diplomats saying that every u. S. Base every u. S. Soldier in the middle east is now a target the iranians came out and declared every u. S. Troop u. S. Soldier as a terrorist essentially and they said that it is fair game so all of these bases not just in iraq but across the region as well there are there is. A presence of u. S. Troops in syria they are in lebanon they are across the g. C. C. As well so it is going to be a point of thought for all of these bases where security needs to be in place where personnel and assets on the ground need to be secured osama thanks very much ok lets just recap. Seconds on where we know. Right now and i can tell you the roads a news agency saying the u. S. Secretary of state might pompei on the defense secretary mr esper they have arrived at the white house following that Iranian Missile attack on the iraqi air base. Which is as we keep on saying if you decide between the iraqi capital baghdad and the border with syria there has also been an attack on another base up north in bill do we know if these attacks are finished if they are over no we do not we do know that there was a 2nd wave of missiles with a successful landing of those missiles at the al assad base by up to 13 missiles fired from some place across the border in iran lets go to big whos our correspondent joining us live from tehran i said just get us right up to date here lots of different aspects and claims and counterclaims coming through from iran. Yes we know from state t. V. That there have been 2 wave of attacks so far tens of missiles have been fired at United States bases this lanny revolutionary guard corps has issued a statement some of the one of the latest statements is that they said that they are warning the great satan. The United States any new attack or assault will have a very painful and powerful response and they also said that they do not see israel as a separate separate entity for this but also i think in one is making clear that this is a retaliation for a single attack not an escalation for an all out or now that may be hard to believe when we see u. S. U. S. Bases attacked but theres no appetite for full scale war here in iran the public have been asking for revenge senior diplomats senior politicians even the Supreme Leader to the how many has said that there would be a retaliation and this is it what were what were seeing now is the retaliation it was a matter of when not if. Iran would retaliate now we did hear earlier on. The burial of the money that the u. S. Bases in the region could be a target iran has warned regional countries that has u. S. Bases that if an attack is not just against iran using those bases then iran will target those bases in those countries so regional countries will be very nervous at the moment looking at events unfolding and they will be in discussions with the United States about whether if the United States react to this if the those bases in those regional countries are used because this if this goes into a full scale war United States has overwhelming firepower but it must be remembered that iran has the ability to change the face of the middle east with its proxies and militias in iraq with hezbollah in lebanon and also the hutu rebels in yemen. Im seeing t. V. Reports coming to a search of the states just to force our conversation for a 2nd talking about casualties among iraqis at that base those are just reports nothing else can we on aljazeera confirm no we cant buy just one a fluke that theyre so we got a sense of whats being said about this at the other end of this multiple conversation is going on now because weve got the u. S. President whos been working up and briefed hes talking to as defense secretary there must be a conversation going on assad as well between the authorities in tehran and baghdad because everyone knows this tit for tat avenue that we might be walking down the optics surrounding that can change very quickly from just being a tit for tat strike for a strike to something much more damaging. I think iran and many countries in the region will be talking to iran and specially baghdad there will be a very concerned at how this could possibly escalate and spiral into a full scale conflict now did iran lets baghdad know that they were going to carry out these attacks i very much doubt it i think from the iranian side there was some disappointment maybe the when asking for the money general carson for the money was assassinated maybe those relationships have been slightly fraught but iran is very. God a very secretive they keep the play their cards very close to their chest even though that theyve been saying that they would retaliate been hearing this for the last few days just yesterday general sense an army promised a chanting crowd that they would have a crushing response to the United States now we do know that iran does have the ability to fire missiles from its territory to bases in iraq to bases in regional countries we know that the rebels in yemen the hoochie rebels they also have missiles and if this does go into a full scale conflict there are militias there are proxies in regional countries with the ability to fire missiles into neighboring countries for the hutu rebels carry out attacks against Saudi Aramco Oil facilities just last year. Thanks very much lets bring in mark kimmitt hes formally an assistant secretary for Political Military Affairs under the george w. Bush administration he joins us live from our bureau in washington mr kimmitt welcome to this rolling coverage here on aljazeera whats the conversation thats going on right now between the u. S. Defense secretary mr asper the secretary of state mr pompei o and donald trump. I think theyre sitting in the situation room right now theyll also have the cia director in there theyll have a couple of other key policymaking people inside there and theyre deciding what to do right now in terms of the response of course will 1st want to hear from the commanders on the ground theyll have those people on a. V. P. See inside of there and theyre going to ask for everybodys opinion and then the president will make the decision what do they feel the options will be. I dont know what they think their options are i would suspect their options could well be a air strike against those facilities that fired the missiles. I think that would be the most probable they may do some other additional targets such as im speculating now some of the speedboats in the persian gulf some of the other military facilities where they may have been training some of the proxies inside of iraq but you can be sure that the target packages that need to be developed for these kind of operations have have already been completed and have been sitting on the shelf for quite some time now they didnt so the iraqis when they killed customs so the money and they didnt tell the iraqis that that was going to happen will they tell the iraqis what theyre going to do now but what i find interesting is that there doesnt seem to be any hue and cry from the Iraqi Government right now talking about the violation of sovereignty we have pictures of the ayatollah looking at a screen is these missiles that are being fired from iraq from iran into iraq so without a doubt that was happening so i think its reciprocal the question i ask to you is has the grand ayatollah or the president in iran call up the iraqis and inform them that they just violated their sovereignty do you think they will have. I dont know i think thats something that somebodys audacity rectories they certainly havent made any condemnation we have no indication the parliament is meeting to back up that condemnation so lets see its going to be a long night theres no doubt about it is parts of what youre discussing now happening in the way that nobody seems to take on board the requirement to talk to the Iraqi Government because the Iraqi Government is as weak as its been for several years so i dont think so i know for a fact that the ambassador talks as necessary and quite frequently with the acting Prime Minister even though he is and is acting as of the it is a caretaker government so theres no doubt there is conversation going on between the ambassador and the Prime Minister the president and i would expect the ministry of Foreign Affairs as well within that relationship between donald trump and miss a pump a it would mean clearly mr pompeo gives mr trump exactly what most from one is miss to ask more of a moderating influence when it comes to the reality of whats free range donald trump may want to do because it looks good on the t. V. Channels it looks good on fox plays well to the base well i dont even need to respond to that because youve already asked the question and answer yourself i do not believe that like bob known for many many years is a sock puppet of president from it was a cia. Director at the very time that donald trump was saying i dont believe the intelligence. My pump air was one of the biggest anti trumper as during the campaign trail i dont think they necessarily have air