Vice President Mike Pence said that Iran’s missile attack on bases in Iraq was “intended to kill Americans.”
Pence, 60, made the comments Thursday on The Today Show. Pence said that the contention by some officials that Iran was shooting to miss U.S. troops is not backed up by intelligence.
“The ballistic missiles fired at American bases, Al Asad and Erbil, we believe were intended to kill Americans,” Pence said. “We have intelligence to support that that was the intention of the Iranians.”
Pence credited the “excellent work of our military personnel on the ground, the force protection that President Trump directed, measures that were taken, and our intelligence” with saving American lives.
“There were no American casualties, no coalition casualties, and as the president said yesterday, we continue to believe that Iran is standing down,” he added.
[PHOTOS: First images of ‘dud’ Iranian missile in Erbil reveal impotent attack]
“Do you think that Iran deliberately avoided U.S. casualties?” –@savannahguthrie
“The ballistic missiles fired at American bases, Al-Asad and Erbil, we believe were intended to kill Americans.” -Vice President @Mike_Pence pic.twitter.com/mbyJLfoFyE
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) January 9, 2020
The remarks echo those of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, who said Wednesday that Iran intended to “kill personnel,” but air defense systems allowed for “a little bit of early warning” before the missiles struck.
Early Wednesday morning, Iran fired 16 short-range ballistic missiles at the two bases. There were no casualties in the attack, although some infrastructure was damaged. The missile attack was a retaliation to the United States after it killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike last week.
