WASHINGTON: Iran may have been behind Thursday’s attack on Iraq’s Balad air base, a senior US State Department official said on Friday, but added that Washington was awaiting further evidence.
Iraqi military on Thursday said that two Katyusha rockets landed inside Balad air base, which hosts US forces and contractors and is located about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Baghdad.
No casualties or damages were reported in the attack for which there was no immediate claim of responsibility.
“We’re waiting for full evidence, but if past is prologue then there’s a good chance that Iran was behind it,” David Schenker, Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs, told reporters in a briefing.
On Tuesday, five rockets landed on Ain Al-Asad air base, which hosts US forces in Anbar province in western Iraq without causing any casualties.
Schenker called the increasing attacks something of “great concern,” and said Iran has become more aggressive over the past five to six months.
“The Iranians often times, or have certainly in the past, taken aggressive action when they feel under pressure,” he said.
The United States ratcheted up economic sanctions against Iran after US President Donald Trump pulled out of a 2015 nuclear pact between Tehran and world powers to choke Iran’s oil exports and isolate its economy.
In response, Tehran has remained defiant and rolled back commitments it made under the 2015 deal aimed at keeping Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Iran also has been angry over a lack of European protection from US sanctions.
Some analysts have warned that cornering Tehran could make it more aggressive. Tensions in the Gulf in recent months have spiked after attacks on oil tankers and a September air strike on Saudi oil facilities, which the United States blamed on Iran, but that Tehran has denied.
Iran may have been behind attack on Iraq’s Balad base, says US official
Iran may have been behind attack on Iraq’s Balad base, says US official
- Two Katyusha rockets landed inside Balad air base, which hosts US forces and contractors and is located about 80 kilometers north of Baghdad
- Tensions in the Gulf in recent months have spiked after attacks on oil tankers and a September air strike on Saudi oil facilities
US special envoys in Israel to discuss future of Gaza, sources tell Reuters
JERUSALEM: US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were in Israel on Saturday to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, mainly to discuss Gaza, two people briefed on the matter told Reuters.
The US on Thursday announced plans for a “New Gaza” rebuilt from scratch, to include residential towers, data centers and seaside resorts, part of President Donald Trump’s push to advance an Israel-Hamas ceasefire shaken by repeated violations.
The Israeli prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The head of a transitional Palestinian committee backed by the US to temporarily administer Gaza, Ali Shaath, said on Thursday that the Rafah border crossing — effectively the sole route in or out of Gaza for nearly all of the more than 2 million people who live there — would open next week.
Israel wants to restrict the number of Palestinians entering Gaza through the border crossing with Egypt to ensure that more are allowed out than in, three sources briefed on the matter said ahead of the border’s expected opening.
The border was supposed to have opened during the initial phase of Trump’s plan to end the war, under a ceasefire reached in October between Israel and Hamas.
The death toll in Gaza since October 7, 2023, now stands at 71,654, and the death toll since the October ceasefire at 481, according to data from Gaza’s health ministry on Saturday.
Earlier this month, Washington announced that the plan had now moved into the second phase, under which Israel is expected to withdraw troops further from Gaza, and Hamas is due to yield control of the territory’s administration.
The Gaza side of the crossing has been under Israeli military control since 2024.
Trump also said on Thursday that the United States has an “armada” heading toward Iran, but hoped he would not have to use it, as he renewed warnings to Tehran against killing protesters or restarting its nuclear program.
