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The U.S. began a series of airstrikes on Iran’s paramilitary forces and militias that Tehran supports in Syria and Iraq on Friday, hitting more than 85 targets in a bid to deter further attacks against American forces after U.S. troops were killed in a drone strike in Jordan, the Pentagon said.
The U.S. said it targeted Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Quds Force and affiliated militia groups that facilitated attacks on U.S. and coalition forces.
More than 125 precision munitions were used in the U.S. attacks, which hit targets at seven locations. Four of those locations were in Syria and three in Iraq. Among the targets were command and control centers, intelligence centers, rockets and missile and drone storage facilities used by militias and their Iranian sponsors, the Pentagon said.t
The Biden administration has said the attacks, which included strikes by long-range B-1 bombers flown from the U.S., could extend for days and would be coupled with economic sanctions and diplomacy that is aimed at safeguarding American forces—while not pushing the U.S. toward direct confrontation with Iran.
“Our response began today,” said President Biden Friday afternoon. “It will continue at times and places of our choosing.”
Military officials said the strikes were focused on targets that had a direct connection to efforts to attack U.S. troops in the region. As expected, no targets on Iranian territory were struck, a step no U.S. president has taken.
The strikes take away more capabilities from the IRGC and militant groups than the U.S. has done in the past, said John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council.
Officials deemed the strikes successful but didn’t provide details. “We’re going to let the sun come up and we’ll be able to start to make some better determinations in terms of our damage assessment,” said Army Lt. Gen. D.A. Sims in a briefing for reporters Friday. “We feel pretty confident,” he added of the results of the strikes.
The administration has signaled for days that it was preparing to take action in response to the drone strike on Sunday, which American officials say was carried out from Iraqi territory by an Iran-backed group. Middle East experts say Iran and the militias used the interim period to try to disperse their forces.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday that the U.S. can repeat its strikes as long as the threat warrants.
“They have a lot of capability, I have a lot more,” Austin said.
Jordanian aircraft are also slated to join in the operation and have been assigned targets. Jordan’s role is unusual and is intended to demonstrate solidarity with the U.S. following the drone strike on Tower 22, an outpost in Jordan near the Syrian border.
The delay in launching U.S. strikes likely means that Tehran had time to move its personnel out of harm’s way, said Mick Mulroy, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense.
“Some will say [the U.S.] missed an opportunity to really inflict consequences on Iran,” Mulroy said. “We may however be able to reduce these Iranian proxies’ ability to attack our forces by striking these supply lines, storage facilities, and launch sites.”
Previous efforts by the Biden administration to deter Iran-backed groups have fallen short. In response to militant attacks that began in October, the U.S. initially confined its response to targets in Syria and then carried out a handful of limited retaliatory strikes in Iraq.
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