WarSclerotic

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke Saturday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, following the American airstrike on top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani.

“Netanyahu and I just spoke and underscored the importance of countering Iran’s malign influence and threats to the region. I am always grateful for Israel’s steadfast support in defeating terrorism,” Pompeo wrote on Twitter.

He added: “The bond between Israel and the United States is unbreakable.”

A statement from the US State Department said the two discussed the situation in Iraq, where Soleimani was killed, and Iran’s “continued provocations and threats to the region.”

There was no immediate readout from the Prime Minister’s Office on the phone call, the third in the past week between Netanyahu and Pompeo.

Iranians march with a banner bearing an illustration of Quds Force General Qassem Soleimani during a demonstration in Tehran on January 3, 2020, against the killing of the top commander in a US strike in Baghdad. (Atta Kenare/AFP)

According to Israeli television reports Friday, Pompeo is believed to have briefed Netanyahu ahead of time about US plans to kill Soleimani, the powerful head of Iran’s elite Quds Force.

Pompeo phoned Netanyahu on Wednesday night, ostensibly to thank him for Israel’s support in efforts to combat Iran and after the attack on the US embassy in Iraq.

Before departing for Athens on Thursday morning, Netanyahu alluded to “very, very dramatic things” happening in the region.

“We know that our region is stormy; very, very dramatic things are happening in it. We are alert and are monitoring the situation. We are in continuous contact with our great friend the US, including my conversation yesterday afternoon,” he told reporters at Ben Gurion International Airport.

Hours later, Soleimani and several top officials from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed in a US airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport, along with an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia commander.

It was not clear if other US allies were warned.

This photo released by the Iraqi Prime Minister Press Office shows a burning vehicle at the Baghdad International Airport following an airstrike in Baghdad, Iraq, January 3, 2020. (Iraqi Prime Minister Press Office via AP)

Pompeo has been working the phones extensively since the targeted killing of Soleimani, which in State Department readouts of his calls with officials around the globe was described as “defensive action in response to imminent threats to American lives.”

After the news of the strike, Netanyahu on Friday praised the United States and President Donald Trump for killing Soleimani.

“Trump is worthy of full appreciation for acting with determination, strongly and swiftly,” he told reporters before departing Greece to return to Israel. “We stand fully by the United States in its just battle for security, peace and self-defense.”

The prime minister said “Israel has the right to defend itself. The US has the same right exactly. Soleimani is responsible for the deaths of innocent US citizens and many others. He was planning further attacks.”

Netanyahu cut short his visit to Greece amid concerns Iran could exact revenge on the Jewish state for the US overnight strike. He had been visiting the country to sign a major deal for a gas pipeline.

Protesters burn a US flag during a demonstration against the killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleiman in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 3, 2020. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Israel has reportedly raised its security alert at missions worldwide, and the Israel Defense Forces has heightened its alert, amid Iranian revenge threats against the US and the “Zionist regime.”

The security cabinet is set to convene Sunday.

General Gholamali Abuhamzeh, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps in the southern province of Kerman, on Saturday threatened that some 35 US targets in the Middle East, “as well as Tel Aviv,” were within the reach of Tehran to avenge the killing of Soleimani.

Though Iran is seen as unlikely to retaliate by striking Israel, Channel 12 news reported Saturday that the military has upped its readiness on the borders in the case of a “spontaneous” response from Iran-backed terror groups, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah or Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip.

Hundreds of US soldiers deployed Saturday from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to Kuwait to serve as reinforcements in the Middle East amid rising tensions following the US killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.

Lt. Col. Mike Burns, a spokesman for the 82nd Airborne Division, told The Associated Press that 3,500 members of the division’s quick-deployment brigade, known officially as its Immediate Response Force, will have deployed within a few days. The most recent group of service members to deploy will join about 700 who left earlier in the week, Burns said.

A loading ramp at Fort Bragg was filled Saturday morning with combat gear and restless soldiers. Some tried to grab a last-minute nap on wooden benches. Reporters saw others filing onto buses.

The additional troop deployments reflect concerns about potential Iranian retaliatory action in the volatile aftermath of Friday’s drone strike that killed Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force who has been blamed for attacks on US troops and American allies going back decades.

US President Donald Trump ordered the airstrike near Baghdad’s international airport. Iran has vowed retribution, raising fears of an all-out war, but it’s unclear how or when a response might come.

Reporters weren’t able to interview the soldiers leaving Fort Bragg on Saturday, but an airman loading one of the cargo planes told an Army cameraman he was making New Year’s plans when he got a call to help load up the soldiers, according to video footage released by the military.

“We’re responsible for loading the cargo. Almost our whole squadron got alerted. Like a bunch of planes are coming over here,” the unnamed airman said. “I was getting ready to go out for New Year’s when they called me.”

In the gray early morning light Saturday, Army video showed soldiers dressed in camouflage fatigues filing into planes, carrying rucksacks and rifles. Humvees were rolled onto another cargo plane and chained in place for the flight to the Middle East.

US soldiers prepare to ship to the Middle East from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, January 4, 2020. (US Army/Sgt. 1st Class Zachary Vandyke)

Burns said the soldiers within the Immediate Response Force train constantly to be ready to respond quickly to crises abroad. When called by their superiors, they have two hours to get to base with their gear and must maintain a state of readiness so that they can be in the air headed to their next location within 18 hours.

“So whether they were on leave, whether they were home drinking a beer, whether they were, you know, hanging out, throwing the kids up in the yard, you get the call and it’s time to go,” he said.

He said that soldiers typically keep individual “go-bags” of their personal gear with them at their living quarters.

The wife of a member of the 82nd Airborne who deployed earlier this week said his departure was so abrupt she didn’t have the chance to say goodbye in person or by phone.

US paratroopers assigned prepare equipment and load aircraft for deployment from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, January 4, 2020. (US Army/Spc. Hubert Delany III)

April Shumard said she was at work on New Year’s Eve and he was watching their five children when he texted her that he had to rush to base. He wasn’t sure if it was a drill or a deployment. She said her husband has been in the military since 2010 and has already deployed twice to Afghanistan. But with those prior deployments, the family had much more time to prepare and say goodbye. This time, she got a second message confirming he was leaving, and he departed in a plane on the afternoon of New Year’s Day.

“The kids kept going, ‘When’s Dad going to be home?’” said Shumard, 42. “It’s literally thrown me for a loop. And him as well. He’s still in disbelief of where he’s gone. Our heads are spun.”

She said that Fayetteville is a tight-knit community, and she expects people to work together to support families who are suddenly missing a parent.

US Army soldiers rest before heading out from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to the Middle East, January 4, 2020. (AP Photo/Chris Seward)

“This was so last-minute,” she said, urging people to reach out to 82nd Airborne families. “Just try to help out whoever you know who might need some babysitting or help or just get some groceries and bring it to their house.”

Similarly, Bri’anna Ferry’s husband got the call on New Year’s Eve, and she said he was on a plane to the Middle East within hours. She fears he could miss milestones with their young daughter but also wants him to focus on his mission.

“I told him, don’t worry about us. We’ll be fine,” she said. “Focus on your mission.”

The UK was meanwhile sending navy ships to the Strait of Hormuz to protect shipping, The Guardian reported. Some 20 percent of the world’s traded oil passes through the strait off Iran’s coast, which forms the narrow mouth to the Persian Gulf.

UK-flagged commercial ships would be accompanied through the waterway by the Royal Navy in light of the threat from Iran. UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said the HMS Montrose frigate and HMS Defender destroyer would be deployed to the fraught maritime passage.

“The government will take all necessary steps to protect our ships and citizens at this time,” Wallace said.

Iran seized a British-flagged oil tanker in July as it passed through the Strait of Hormuz, releasing the ship in September.

The seizure came after British authorities took control of an Iranian tanker earlier in July off the coast of the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The Iranian-flagged ship was suspected of carrying crude oil to Syria in violation of European Union sanctions.

US President Donald Trump on Saturday issued stern warnings to Iran as tensions soared following the US killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, threatening to his dozens of sites should Tehran attempt to take revenge.

Trump blamed Soleimani for recent attacks on Americans in his response to threats from Iranian officials, who have vowed retribution for the killing.

“Iran is talking very boldly about targeting certain USA assets as revenge for our ridding the world of their terrorist leader who had just killed an American,” Trump wrote on Twitter.

“If Iran strikes any Americans, or American assets, we have targeted 52 Iranian sites,” Trump wrote. “Some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD.”

He said the number of sites represented “the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago,” apparently referring to the 1979 Tehran embassy crisis.

Late Saturday night, the president tweeted again, this time warning Iran that the US will hit Iran “harder than they have ever been hit before!”

Trump followed up with another tweet, saying the US would use its “brand new beautiful” military equipment “without hesitation” if the Iranians retaliate.

The strike has raised fears of an all-out war, but it’s unclear how or when Iran might respond. Any retaliation was likely to come after three days of mourning declared in both Iran and Iraq. All eyes were on Iraq, where America and Iran have competed for influence since the 2003 US-led invasion.

Trump said he ordered the strike, a high-risk decision that was made without consulting Congress or US allies, to prevent a conflict. US officials say Soleimani was plotting a series of attacks that endangered American troops and officials, without providing evidence.

In his Saturday Twitter thread, Trump said that Soleimani “badly wounded many” Americans, and killed many people in his lifetime, including recently “hundreds of Iranian protesters.”

He blamed Soleimani for attacks on the US embassy in Baghdad earlier this week and said the Iranian was was “preparing for additional hits in other locations.”

Iranian revolutionary students stormed the American embassy in Tehran in 1979 and took 52 US staffers hostage for 444 days, less than nine months after the toppling of Iran’s American-backed shah. The US broke off diplomatic relations with Iran in 1980 and ties have been frozen ever since.

Protesters burn a US flag during a demonstration against the killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 3, 2020. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

On Friday, Trump said “Soleimani was plotting imminent and sinister attacks on American diplomats and military personnel, but we caught him in the act and terminated him.”

“We took action last night to stop a war. We did not take action to start a war,” he said, adding: “We do not seek regime change.”

Before deciding on the strike, Trump was reportedly angered for days about the killing of a US contractor in Iraq on December 27, and ordered the airstrike on the Iranian general’s convoy as a response to the contractor’s killing and the storming of the US embassy by pro-Iranian protesters.

The US is seeing indications that Iran has stepped up its readiness to launch short- and medium-range ballistic missiles, according to a Saturday CNN report. US intelligence is conducting surveillance by various means to assess when the missiles could be ready to launch, the report said, citing an unnamed US official with direct knowledge of the issue.

Meanwhile, another unnamed US official told CNN that American defense chiefs were holding intense discussions as they try to ascertain whether Iran plans to retaliate in the next few days, with “conflicting views” on when a major attack may come.

An assault was definitely expected “within weeks” at maximum, the official said.

On Saturday a contingent of US troops set out from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to Kuwait to serve as Middle East reinforcements. A US military spokesperson said that a total of 3,500 American soldiers will be deployed within a few days.

US paratroopers prepare equipment and load aircraft for deployment from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, January 4, 2020. (US Army/Spc. Hubert Delany III)

The UK sent two warships Saturday to protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday spoke to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about Iraq and the Iranian threat to the region. It was the pair’s third phone conversation in the past week; Pompeo is believed to have briefed Netanyahu about the strike ahead of time.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has said Tehran will react with “harsh revenge” to the hit on the popular general, who was his personal friend.

A senior Iranian commander on Saturday threatened that some 35 US targets in the Middle East, as well as Tel Aviv, were within reach of Tehran to avenge the killing of Soleimani.

Soleimani was the architect of Iran’s regional policy of mobilizing militias across Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, including in the war against the Islamic State group. He was also blamed for attacks on US troops and American allies going back decades.

An image published on Ali Khamenei’s official website on September 25 showing Khamenei, the Iranian supreme leader, left, alongside Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, center, and Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani. (Khamenei.ir)

After the early Friday attack, the US-led coalition has scaled back operations and boosted “security and defensive measures” at bases hosting coalition forces in Iraq, a coalition official said on the condition of anonymity according to regulations.

In a thinly veiled threat, one of the Iran-backed militia, Kataeb Hezbollah, or Hezbollah Bridages, called on Iraqi security forces to stay at least 1,000 meters (0.6 miles) away from US bases starting Sunday night.

“The leaders of the security forces should protect their fighters and not allow them to become human shields to the occupying Crusaders,” the warning statement said, in reference to the coalition bases. The group is founded by Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a senior Iraqi militia commander who was killed in the same strike.

On Saturday evening, a series of rockets were launched and fell inside or near the Baghdad Green Zone, which houses government offices and foreign embassies, including the US Embassy.

No one was injured by a Katyusha rocket that fell inside a square less than one kilometer from the embassy, according to an Iraqi security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters. Another rocket in Baghdad landed about 500 meters from As-Salam palace where the Iraqi President Barham Salih normally stays in Jadriya, a neighborhood adjacent to the Green Zone, the official said.

Another security official said three rockets fell outside an air base north of Baghdad were American contractors are normally present. The rockets landed outside the base in a farm area and there were no reports of damages, according to the official.