Trump says 'all is well' after a barrage of Iranian missiles rained down on US forces in Iraq

• In his first response to a missile attack by Iran on US forces in Iraq, President Donald Trump tweeted that 'all is well.'
• The president's tweet follows an Iranian missile attack on US military and coalition forces in Iraq Wednesday morning (local time), the latest escalation in a tit-for-tat military exchange between the US and Iran and its proxies.
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In his first response to a missile attack by Iran on US forces in Iraq, President Donald Trump tweeted that "all is well" - a change of pace from earlier tweets threatening to hit Iran hard if it retaliated against US forces for the killing of a senior Iranian military official.

The president's tweet follows an Iranian missile attack on US military and coalition forces in Iraq Wednesday morning (local time).

"Iran launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles" targeting "at least two Iraqi military bases hosting US military and coalition personnel at Al-Assad and Irbil," the Pentagon said in a statement.

The attack follows a US drone strike ordered by President Trump that killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Force Quds Force. In the wake of the strike, Iran's senior leadership vowed to take "harsh retaliation" against the US.

"General Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region," the Department of Defense said in a statement following the termination of Soleimani. "This strike was aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans."

The US linked the slain general to a rocket attack carried out by an Iran-backed militia in Iraq that killed a US civilian contractor and wounded several service members and an assault on the US Embassy in Baghdad, a response to the bombing of militia positions following the rocket attack.

The overt missile attack Wednesday on the US military, which Iran's IRGC claimed to have carried out in retaliation for the strike that killed Soleimani, marks a major shift in Iranian behavior from the mining of tankers, the shooting down of a US drone, and the attacks on Saudi oil facilities.

The US has deployed more than 15,000 US troops to the Middle East since May to strengthen the US force posture in the region amid rising regional tensions with Iran. In the past few days alone, the US military has sent thousands of additional troops to the region.

All is well! Missiles launched from Iran at two military bases located in Iraq. Assessment of casualties & damages taking place now. So far, so good! We have the most powerful and well equipped military anywhere in the world, by far! I will be making a statement tomorrow morning.

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2020