WASHINGTON (JTA) — Iran fired ballistic missiles at U.S. military targets in Iraq in retaliation for the killing last week of a top general and warned that if the United States escalates, Iran’s next targets would be U.S. allies, including Israel.
“Iran is warning that if there is retaliation for the two waves of attacks they launched their third wave will destroy Dubai and Haifa,” Ali Arouzi, NBC’s Tehran correspondent, reported on Twitter, where he was relaying official comments from Iran’s state media. The U.S. Sixth Fleet often docks in Haifa.
The warning came after Iranian missiles hit two U.S. bases in Iraq on Tuesday. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Tensions have escalated over the last year between the United States and Iran, as the U.S. intensified sanctions against the country and Iran continued its adventurism in the region.
Late last year, an Iranian proxy killed an American contractor, leading President Donald Trump to approve the assassination last week of Qassem Soleimani, who leads the Qods Force, the foreign arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Arouzi and others on Twitter quoted Iranian media as saying that Iran would not continue its attacks if there were no further U.S. retaliation.
