Iran on Saturday vowed a “decisive response” after Israel and the United States carried out strikes on its territory, despite ongoing talks over Tehran’s nuclear programme.
In a statement, Iran’s foreign ministry said the country’s armed forces would respond firmly to what it described as aggression. It maintained that Tehran had done “everything necessary to prevent war.”
“Just as we were prepared for negotiations, we are now more ready than ever to defend the Iranian nation,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced that it had launched a first wave of missile and drone strikes targeting Israel in retaliation.
“The first wave of widespread missile and drone attacks by the Islamic Republic of Iran against the occupied territories has begun,” the IRGC said, referring to Israel.
Bombing targets Iraqi base
In Iraq, a bombing struck a military base in the Jurf al-Sakher area south of Baghdad, causing casualties, according to security officials and sources within the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), also known as Hashed al-Shaabi.
The base, also called Jurf al-Nasr, belongs to the PMF, a former paramilitary coalition now integrated into Iraq’s armed forces. However, it primarily hosts the powerful pro-Iran faction Kataeb Hezbollah.
A source within Hashed al-Shaabi said the strike targeted the 47th Brigade of Kataeb Hezbollah. Multiple sources confirmed casualties, though responsibility for the attack remained unclear.
At least two killed
Iraqi authorities later confirmed that at least two people were killed in the strike. The government’s security media cell said that at 11:50 a.m. (0850 GMT), several airstrikes hit the Jurf al-Nasr area, killing two people and wounding three others.
A source from Kataeb Hezbollah said two of its members were killed and five others wounded in what it described as “aggression” against the base. The PMF also confirmed the deaths and injuries.
A Hashed al-Shaabi source told AFP that it was not yet known whether the attack was carried out by American or Israeli forces.
Kataeb Hezbollah, which has several brigades operating within the PMF, is part of the Iran-aligned “axis of resistance” and has a history of acting independently. The group had warned the United States earlier in the week of “immense losses” if war erupted in the region, urging its fighters to prepare for what it called a potentially prolonged conflict.