On June 18, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Biden administration plans to withdraw U.S. missile defenses deployed in the Middle East. The withdrawal includes eight Patriot systems from countries including Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. The United States also plans to withdraw a THAAD battery from Saudi Arabia. The United States previously...
The United States has deployed Patriot air and missile defense systems to Iraq, Pentagon officials confirmed on April 2. In an official statement, Pentagon spokesman Sean Robinson said the deployment would “protect Iraqi, coalition, and US service members from a variety of air threats seen at Iraqi bases that host coalition troops.” Continually upgraded since...
Baghdad has resumed talks with Russia on acquiring S-300 or S-400 air defense systems, Iraqi officials have confirmed. According to Karim Elaiwi, an Iraqi lawmaker and defense committee member, Iraq’s security and defense committee reinitiated discussions started in May over an S-400 purchase. Iraq’s Ambassador to Iran, Saad Jawad Qandil, separately confirmed that the country...
On January 8, 2020, Iran used ballistic missiles to attack U.S. air bases in Iraq, in response to the U.S.-targeted killing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF) commander Qasem Soleimani. The attack against U.S. bases in Iraq demonstrates that Tehran continues to rely on its missile forces as a tool for signaling, diplomacy,...
On January 7, Iran fired at least 16 ballistic missiles at two Iraqi military bases housing U.S. military and coalition personnel. The salvo launch — which reportedly involved the Qiam and Fateh-313 missiles — targeted Iraq’s Ain al-Assad airbase and a Special Operations facility in Erbil. According to a U.S. officials, 11 missiles struck Ain...
On December 29, the United States launched airstrikes on five sites in Iraq and Syria controlled by Kata’ib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed paramilitary group. According to Pentagon Spokesperson Jonathan Hoffman, the targets “included weapon storage facilities and command and control locations that KH uses to plan and execute attacks on OIR coalition forces.” The U.S. strikes...
In discussions of Iran’s regional missile proliferation, Lebanese Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi rebels tend to dominate the conversation. This focus is for good reason: Hezbollah today possesses an estimated 130,000 rockets and short-range missiles, and the Houthis have fired over 250 projectiles into Saudi Arabia since 2015. Yet Iran’s strategy of arming proxies with rockets...
On July 12, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) struck Iraqi Kurdish militant groups with missiles, artillery, and drones. According to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency, the IRGC employed its new armed M-6 drones to attack several positions in the Iraqi Kurdistan region. In a statement, the IRGC said the strikes came in response to...
On June 19, several rockets struck oil facilities near Basra in Southern Iraq. According to Iraqi security forces, the first Katyusha rocket struck the Iraqi Drilling Company’s headquarters in Basra, injuring three Iraqi workers, while no injuries were reported in the second attack. The unclaimed attacks came following several rocket strikes on Iraqi oil facilities...
