The retaliation has begun. The United States has bombed more than 85 military targets and facilities linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard of Iran in Iraq and Syria during the night of Friday, in response to the drone attack that last week killed three reservists at a US base in the triple Jordan border. With these attacks, Joe Biden's administration marks the beginning of a new phase in the region and fuels the possibility of regional conflict.
"The United States is not seeking a conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world," the president said in a statement, in which he sent a clear message to the militias supported by Iran: "If they harm an American, We will respond." The response has come in the form of 125 precision missiles, according to another Central Command statement, and has targeted intelligence centers, weapons facilities and bunkers used by the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guard, a branch of the Iranian army. The objective of these bombings, and of the military campaign that begins today, is to weaken the capabilities of the pro-Iran militias.
The spokesman for the National Security Council, John Kirby, described the air operation as "successful" in a call with journalists and assured that it was based on "irrefutable evidence" that it was related to "the attacks on US personnel in the region". The Iraqi government has been warned in advance of the attack, Kirby confirmed.
The spokesman for the Iraqi armed forces, General Yahya Rasool, denounced in a statement that the bombings are "unacceptable" and "constitute a violation of Iraqi sovereignty", as well as "a threat that will drag Iraq and the region into unforeseeable consequences."
The Pentagon already warned this week that it is seeking a "phased" and "sustained over time" retaliation, and this was confirmed by Biden this Friday: "Our response began today. It will continue at times and places of our choosing." The president and commander in chief of the US Armed Forces announced Tuesday that he had already decided how to respond to last Sunday's attack on the Tower 22 outpost, which was claimed by the Islamic Resistance of Iraq, a coalition of pro-Iran militias. It was the first fatal attack of the more than 160 that American targets have suffered in the region since the war in Gaza escalated, after the Hamas attacks in Israel, on October 7. All of them have been attributed to groups supported by Iran.
The Pentagon deployed two B-1B supersonic bombers on Friday morning, which departed from Dyess Air Base (Texas) and crossed the Atlantic to launch their precision munitions from the skies of Iraq and Syria. The fact that the planes took off in the United States and flew more than 10,000 kilometers, refueling mid-flight, to attack pro-Iranian targets, also sends a message: it is a demonstration of military muscle, according to official sources.
The attack comes the same day that Biden attended the funeral of the three soldiers killed last Sunday. A ceremony, at the Dover military base (Delaware), in which the president received the coffins accompanied by the first lady, Jill Biden, and the head of the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin. It is the second ceremony of this type that Biden has attended since she has been president: in 2021 she participated in the reception of 13 soldiers killed in a terrorist attack at the Kabul airport.
The attack on the military base in Jordan, on the border with Syria and Iraq, also left more than 40 injured. It was not repelled by US defense systems because they mistook the enemy drone for one of their own that was returning to the base. On the same Sunday, two other unmanned aircraft were launched that were intercepted.
The military campaign that the US begins this Friday – and which could last for days, weeks or months – means a new escalation in the Middle East, a region in which, since October 7, tension has not stopped increasing, despite ongoing negotiations for the release of hostages. The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, will begin his fifth diplomatic mission to the area on Sunday and will visit Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, Israel and the West Bank, until his return next Thursday.
In the same way that US officials in Washington – such as National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan – have reiterated that they want to avoid direct conflict with Tehran, the leader of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Hossein Salami, assured on Wednesday that his country "is not looking for war." However, he warned that Iran "is prepared" to respond to any attack.
On Tuesday, the same day that Biden confirmed the US retaliation, Kataib Hezbollah – one of the militias that are part of the Islamic Resistance – announced that it was going to suspend its military operations in Iraq, in an announcement that was received with surprise and skepticism in Washington. It remains to be seen whether the positions taken by Iran and the militias it supports will change after this Friday's attack.
