Top US general says Iran wanted to 'kill personnel' in missile attack on US forces in Iraq

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Top US general says Iran wanted to 'kill personnel' in missile attack on US forces in Iraq
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley
  • Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told reporters he believes that Iran was not only trying to destroy assets and equipment with its missile strike but that it was also trying to "kill personnel," he told reporters Wednesday afternoon.
  • His view of the situation contrasts with speculation, even among other US officials, that Iran may have tried to avoid causing casualties in order to retaliate for the killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani without escalating.
  • Rather than respond to Iran's attack with military force, President Donald Trump, who said that Iran appeared to be "standing down" in an address to nation earlier in the day, opted for tougher sanctions instead.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The top US general said Wednesday afternoon that his personal assessment is that the Iranian military wanted to "kill personnel," as well as destroy assets and equipment, when it fired a barrage of missiles at US and coalition forces in Iraq.

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The Iranian missile strikes on forces at Al-Asad and Irbil, a response to the US drone strike that killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani last week, did not result in casualties, and many observers, including Trump administration officials, suspect that this may have been intentional to retaliate without escalation.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley has a different view of the situation.

"I believe, based on what I saw and what I know, that [the missile strikes] were intended to cause structural damage, destroy vehicles and equipment and aircraft and to kill personnel. That's my own personal assessment," he told reporters Wednesday afternoon, according to Reuters.

"But the analytics is in the hands of professional intelligence analysts," he added. "So they're looking at that."

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Iran fired 16 missiles, according to the Pentagon: 11 targeted the air base at Al-Asad, 1 was aimed at Irbil, and 4 failed.

Speaking earlier Wednesday, President Donald Trump said that US forces made it through the attack unscathed "because of precautions taken, the dispersal of forces, and an early warning system that worked very well."

Asked if the US would have seen casualties if it had not had advanced warning, giving troops time to take cover in bunkers and other hardened facilities, Milley said, "I think that's a reasonable conclusion."

In his earlier address, Trump said that Iran "appears to be standing down." Rather than an opting to respond with military force, the president decided to impose tougher sanctions on the Iranian regime, thus de-escalating even as US-Iran tensions persist.

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