SITREP: 9:15 P.M. ET - Jan 7th
Iran fired 15 ballistic missiles
10 hit Iraq's Al Asad Airbase
No known U.S. casualties at this time
1 missile fell near Erbil Airport; no damage. 4 failed
Trump, senior officials held meetings
No Trump speech tonight
No U.S. response so far
Before and After shots of the damage
https://mobile.twitter.com/ArmsControlWonk/status/1214936098679480320
"U.S. early earning systems detected the incoming ballistic missiles well in advance, providing U.S. and coalition forces adequate time to take appropriate force protection measures," a U.S. defense official tells reporters at the Pentagon
Here's where things get interesting:
>Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei: "Iran's missile attack is a slap in the face for the Americans. But military action is not sufficient - what's important is to end the corrupting presence of America in the region"
"slap in the face"
https://mobile.twitter.com/JZarif/status/1214736614217469953
>Iran took & concluded proportionate measures in self-defense under Article 51 of UN Charter targeting base from which cowardly armed attack against our citizens & senior officials were launched.
Killing no one, injuring no Americans is NOT "proportionate measures" against torpedoing the keel of their black ops, commander 'moldy salami'.
The IRGC needs to follow through on their claims of 'hard revenge for the blood of their fallen'.. otherwise the people of Iran will see them as weak which would be a flash point for the people taking back their country after millions have protesting for months.
So how does this make sense?
Enter IRGC Propaganda:
[TL;DR] WE KILLED LOTS AND INJIRED WAY MORE BUT YOU CAN'T SEE THE BODIES BECAUSE TEH JOOS ATE THEM
>Iranian state media claims more than 80 US soldiers killed in missile barrage
>Purportedly dead troops ‘were immediately transferred out of the airbase by helicopters,’ Revolutionary Guard claims after no damage reported from retaliatory strike
>“An informed source at the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps said over 80 American troops were killed and some 200 wounded in the IRGC’s missile strikes on the US airbase of Ain al-Assad in Anbar province in western Iraq,” Mehr News reported on Wednesday.
Who's Mehr?
>Mehr, which is owned by the Islamic Ideology Dissemination Organization, a branch of the Iranian government, credited the report to “IRIB,” or the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, Iran’s public broadcaster whose head is appointed directly by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
"appointed directly by Ayatollah."
So his personal propagandist.
>“According to the accurate reports of our sources in this area, at least 80 American troops were killed and some 200 others were wounded, who were immediately transferred out of the airbase by helicopters,” the source was quoted as saying, apparently to explain the lack of any images of bodies despite the purportedly high death toll.
>The source said up to 20 “critical points” on the base were struck by 15 missiles, destroying “a significant number” of US drones and helicopters.
>“Despite the fact that Americans had been on high alert, their air defense was unable to respond,” the source was quoted by Mehr News as saying, warning that “As many as 104 critical points in the US’ positions in the region have been identified, which would be destroyed upon the US’ first mistake.”
There are a few reasons why this may be the case:
The difference between sites targeted, 52 vs 35, is 17 [Q]. Which may have been a sign there was an agreement between the two countries. This "revenge" strike was, objectively, not proportional damage. It may have been enough to placate bloodlust given how its being spun by the IRGC. They know well they'll be ended before they can shit their pants (and blame the joos for) if they kill an American soldier.
So they capitulated. Willingly.
Now the fermented proxy groups need to be calmed down.
Was moldy salami the true 'power behind the throne'?
Did we just free Iran from their deepstate?
I heard reports of more than 50 commanders being arrested..
-or-
They have only begun their attacks, and used this missile attack to placate their people. This has been the only time Iran has directly attacked another (With the rest of their attacks done through proxies).
They needed to claim they carried out an attack to maintain control over their people/military.
Now the rest can be done with plausible deniability through proxies.
Time will tell~