Iran’s state-run PressTV media outlet repeated its claims on Wednesday of widespread American casualties after Tehran launched a ballistic missile assault on Iraqi airbases this month, accusing the Pentagon of “taking advantage” of the Senate impeachment trial to hide the injuries.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shot over a dozen ballistic missiles at two Iraqi airbases housing U.S. troops on January 8 in retaliation for President Donald Trump ordering an airstrike against IRGC Major General Qasem Soleimani. Soleimani, head of the IRGC Quds Force, was in charge of Iran’s external terrorism strategy; the IRGC is a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. Trump and several senior American officials have told the press that Soleimani was planning an imminent attack on American troops at the time of the airstrike.
Trump said Washington had evidence that Soleimani was organizing attacks on four American embassies in the Middle East. During the weekend before the airstrike that removed Soleimani from the battlefield a mob of pro-Iranian militants attacked the U.S. embassy in Baghdadi, spray-painting “Soleimani is our commander” on the side of the building.
Iranian state media first alleged that the missile attack on U.S. targets killed 80 Americans and wounded another 200. President Trump said no casualties occurred, American or otherwise. The Pentagon subsequently revealed that 11 soldiers were being monitored with concussion symptoms following the bombings.
PressTV reported on another Pentagon statement Tuesday adding that an unspecified number of troops received medical attention “out of an abundance of caution” following the strikes.
“As medical treatment and evaluations in theater continue, additional service members have been identified as having potential injuries,” Pentagon Central Command spokesman Capt. Bill Urban said. “These service members – out of an abundance of caution – have been transported to Landstuhl, Germany, for further evaluations and necessary treatment on an outpatient basis. Given the nature of injuries already noted, it is possible additional injuries may be identified in the future.”
“The CENTCOM has refused to mention the exact figure so far and appears to be taking advantage of U.S. President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial in the Senate to make the announcement as smoothly as possible in order to save the US military’s reputation in the wake of the disastrous defeat,” PressTV speculated, providing no evidence or expert analysis to support that conclusion.
PressTV did not repeat its initial claims of 80 killed by the strikes, for which Iranian propaganda outlets cited the IRGC. No evidence has surfaced of any individuals killed by the Iranian ballistic missiles. Last week, the outlet published a report describing American soldiers as “horror-struck with Iran’s attack on their military base” and alleging that a large number of U.S. aircraft took troops out of Iraq for medical care, without providing any evidence.
While failing to kill any Americans, the Iranian military did kill 176 people with Russian Tor surface-to-air missiles during the barrage, however, by shooting a commercial airliner out of the sky shortly after takeoff from Tehran. Iranian officials first claimed “mechanical failure” had doomed Ukrainian International Airlines (UIA) Flight 752, but relented under international pressure and admitted to mistaking the plane for an incoming American missile. Even in accepting blame, some Iranian media speculated that a U.S. “cyberattack,” and not human error by an Iranian soldier, could have shot the Tor missiles.
Shortly after the attack, President Trump addressed the nation via Twitter, writing, “all is well!” and that, while he still awaited a complete evaluation, “so far so good” on casualty counts. The Pentagon confirmed the potential concussion injuries over a week later. Concussions, a result of blunt force to the head, vary widely in severity and often take hours or even days to make themselves known. Most who experience concussions make a full recovery.
While Iranian officials vowed “hard revenge” for Soleimani’s death, they have not responded beyond the missile attack. Tehran has instead organized multiple rallies to mask growing protests against the regime and vowed to prosecute President Trump under Islamic Sharia for authorizing the airstrike.
Gholamhossein Esmaeili, spokesman for the Iranian Judiciary, said last week that the authoritarian government would “initially file a lawsuit in Iran, which is legal under the Islamic Penal Code.” It would then seek redress internationally at the United Nations and other venues.
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