“At approximately 5:30 p.m. (EST) on January 7, Iran launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles against U.S. military and coalition forces in Iraq. It is clear that these missiles were launched from Iran and targeted at least two Iraqi military bases hosting U.S. military and coalition personnel at Al-Assad and Irbil,” said a Pentagon statement, issued about an hour and a half after the attack.

“These bases have been on high alert due to indications that the Iranian regime planned to attack our forces and interests in the region.”

CNN cited a U.S. military official and senior administration official as saying the Iranian missiles hit areas of the al-Asad base not populated by Americans.

CLIMBING DOWN THE ESCALATION LADDER: After the attack, Iranian Foreign MInister Javad Zarif called for restraint, essentially saying Iran’s honor had been avenged for the U.S. drone strike that killed Revolutionary Guard commander, Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, last week.

“Iran took & concluded proportionate measures in self-defense under Article 51 of UN Charter targeting base from which cowardly armed attack against our citizens & senior officials were launched,” Zarif tweeted. “We do not seek escalation or war, but will defend ourselves against any aggression.”

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called the Iranian missile strikes in a “slap in the face” to the United States.

“They were slapped last night, but such military actions are not enough,” he tweeted in English. “The corruptive presence of the US in the region of West Asia must be stopped.”

YOU DE-ESCALATE, NO YOU DE-ESCALATE: Yesterday, as the U.S. braced for the expected attack, Defense Secretary Mark Esper told reporters in a hastily called briefing that it was up to Iran to break the tit-for-tat cycle of escalation that could start an all-out war neither country wants.

“The United States is not seeking a war with Iran, but we are prepared to finish one,” Esper said. “We are seeking a diplomatic solution, but first this will require Iran to de-escalate. It will require the regime to come to the table with the goal of preventing further bloodshed. And it will require them to cease their malign activities throughout the region.”

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS: We’re still waiting for an official battle damage assessment from the U.S. military, including definitive word that no one was killed or wounded.

The U.S. has spent billions on missile defense systems, including Patriot anti-missile missiles, to defend against exactly this kind of attack. Were missile defenses employed? Were any incoming missiles shot down?

And the biggest unanswered question is whether President Trump will declare victory after what turned out to be a pinprick attack, or whether he will carry out the threat he tweeted Sunday: “If Iran attacks an American Base, or any American, we will be sending some of that brand new beautiful equipment their way…and without hesitation!”

Good Wednesday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and edited by Susan Katz Keating (@SKatzKeating). Email here with tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. Sign up or read current and back issues at DailyonDefense.com. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list. And be sure to follow us on Twitter: @dailyondefense.

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HAPPENING TODAY: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley are due to brief members of Congress behind closed doors on the intelligence that lead to the decision to take out Soleimani as he arrived at the Baghdad airport Friday.

Yesterday Pompeo scoffed at the idea that Soleimani was on a diplomatic mission, carrying Tehran’s response to a Saudi initiative to calm tensions. “Is there any history that would indicate that it was remotely possible that this kind gentleman, this diplomat of great order, Qasem Soleimani, had traveled to Baghdad for the idea of conducting a peace mission?” Pompeo said. “We’ve heard these same lies before. It’s fundamentally false. He was not there on a diplomatic mission trying to resolve a problem.”

President Trump made the same argument later in a White House meeting with the Greek Prime MInister. ““He was traveling with the head of Hezbollah. They weren’t there to discuss a vacation. They weren’t there to go to a nice resort someplace in Baghdad. They were there to discuss bad business,” Trump said. “We saved a lot of lives by terminating his life. A lot of lives were saved. They were planning something, and you’re going to be hearing about it, or at least various people in Congress are going to be hearing about it.”

‘EXQUISITE INTELLIGENCE’: Esper called the intelligence that Soleimani was meeting with an Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia commander to coordinate an attack against Americans, “exquisite,” and said it would be shared with members of Congress today.

“To somehow suggest that he wasn’t a legitimate target, I think, is fanciful,” Esper said “He was clearly on the battlefield. He was conducting, preparing, planning military operations. He was a legitimate target, and his time was due.”

THE OTHER BIG UNKNOWN: Esper insisted yesterday that the U.S. has no plans to leave Iraq, but declined to speculate what the Pentagon would do if Iraq demanded the departure of U.S. troops in the wake of the Soleimani killing.

“Our policy has not changed: We are not leaving Iraq,” Esper said, again dismissing a letter that the Pentagon says mistakenly suggested the U.S. was making preparations to withdraw its forces. “And a draft, unsigned letter does not constitute a policy change.”

But acting Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi indicated he’s taking the letter seriously, saying the document “was clear,” and that the copy he got was signed. “It’s not like a draft, or a paper that fell out of the photocopier and coincidentally came to us,” Mahdi said in comments broadcast state television, as reported by the Washington Post.

‘THE WORST THING’: At the White House, President Trump said withdrawing America’s 5,000 U.S. troops now would be a mistake. “I think it’s the worst thing that could happen to Iraq. If we leave, that would mean that Iran would have a much bigger foothold, and the people of Iraq do not want to see Iran running the country — that, I can tell you.”

“The Iraqi people were not happy when the suggestion was made yesterday that we were thinking about leaving at some point,” Trump said. “They were not happy. But, at some point, we will want to leave.’

THE ULTIMATE IRONY: In an interview on CNN yesterday, Rep. Elissa Slotkin, a former CIA analyst who is sponsoring the Democrat’s war powers resolution in the House, noted that Soleimani’s goal in Iraq was to drive America out.

“I think it would be ironic, because Qasem Soleimani is the architect of the idea that, if you just punish the United States and threaten the United States in Iraq, they will feel like, you know what? The juice isn’t worth the squeeze, and we will run out of Iraq with our tail between our legs,” Slotokin told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.

“That’s what he wanted in life. And I hope that he does not get it in death, because, right now, the Iraqi government is in a very, very tough spot. Their sovereignty was violated. And they have the right to decide what happens in their country.”

ALSO TODAY: Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has appointments on Capitol Hill, meeting with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at 10 a.m., followed by an 11 a.m. meeting with House leadership, hosted by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

GREECE WANTS IN ON THE F-35: Mitsotakis, who has presided over an impressive economic turnaround in Greece, told Trump during their White House meeting that as soon as it completes an upgrade of its F-16 fleet in three or four years, it would like to begin buying, and perhaps help build the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

“Greece is interested, Mr. President, in participating in the F-35 program. As you know, we are already upgrading our F-16s, and that program will be completed in 2023, 2024. So we’re very much interested in participating in the F-35 program after that” Mitsotakis told Trump. “And I’m sure that the U.S. will take into consideration the fact that this country is coming out of an economic crisis, in terms of structuring the program in the best possible way for my country.”

IF THAT’S THE LAW, ‘I’M OK WITH IT’: After presumably getting briefed on the law of armed conflict, President Trump backed off his threat to target Iran cultural sites, although he still argued the prohibition didn’t make sense

“They’re allowed to kill our people, they’re allowed to maim our people, they’re allowed to blow up everything that we have and there’s nothing that stops them, and we are — according to various laws —supposed to be very careful with their cultural heritage. And you know what? If that’s what the law is, I will — I like to obey the law.”

“But think of it: They kill our people, they blow up our people, and then we have to be very gentle with their cultural institutions,” he lamented. “But I’m ok with it. It’s ok with me.”

“I will say this: If Iran does anything that they shouldn’t be doing, they’re going to be suffering the consequences, and very strongly.”

THE AMERICAN: “This is Nawres Hamid. He is the American killed in the Dec. 27 attack in Iraq that spiked tensions between the U.S. and Iran,” tweeted Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post. “He worked as an interpreter for U.S. forces. He was a dad and husband, born in Iraq and naturalized as a U.S. citizen. RIP.”

Hamid’s body was returned to the United States and buried Saturday in Sacramento, the Post reported.

WORRIED ABOUT THE FLEET: Two Senators from the shipbuilding state of Maine, Republican Susan Collins and Independent Angus King, have written Defense Secretary Mark Esper after reading reports suggesting the Pentagon is getting ready to cut the Navy’s procurement account in the FY 2021 budget due to go to Congress next month.

“We write to express our strong support for a 355-ship Navy and to urge continued support from the Department for a robust shipbuilding budget,” the senators wrote. “As you continue to develop and finalize the Department’s FY 2021 budget request, we urge you to reverse course from cutbacks to shipbuilding plans that may be under deliberation and to support a 355-ship Navy.”

Last month, Congress appropriated $5.1 billion for three Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers, which Collins says will support jobs in the defense industry, including Bath Iron Works, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, and Pratt & Whitney.

US AFGHANISTAN AMB. LEAVING: The State Department announced this week that John Bass, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan is stepping down after two-years in the high stress job.

“His two-year tour of service in Kabul was remarkable,” Pompeo said yesterday. “Ambassador Bass is a respected strategic thinker, a man of incredible integrity. He’s helped that country move forward to a brighter, more peaceful and more secure future for all the Afghan people.

“Bass’s departure had long been planned, but it comes at a particularly delicate moment for U.S.-Afghan relations,” says Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program at The Wilson Center.

“American negotiators are trying to put the finishing touches on an agreement with the Taliban, even as an inpatient President Trump is stoking fears in Kabul about the prospect of a unilateral U.S. troop withdrawal. While Bass ruffled some feathers in Afghanistan for often publicly opining on Afghan politics, his presence in Kabul had a steadying influence on a bilateral relationship that has blown hot and cold over the last two years.”

NOMINATED: The White House has announced President Trump’s intention to nominate J. David Patterson of Tennessee, to be the principal deputy under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness.

Patterson currently is senior vice president of strategic business opportunities at SMA, Inc., and previously served as an executive with Boeing and the National Defense Business Institute at the University of Tennessee.

The Rundown

Washington Examiner: Iran deployed missiles to ‘save face’ after US killed Soleimani, expert says

Washington Examiner: WATCH: Iranian media releases video reportedly depicting attack against US forces

Washington Examiner: Security in DC tightens amid conflict with Iran

Washington Examiner: Tehran official taunts Trump by posting Iranian flag to Twitter during ballistic missile attacks

The Diplomat: After U.S. Strike on Soleimani, China and Russia Coordinate at UN

Washington Post: Putin Talks To Assad In Syria Amid Rising Mideast Tensions

Military Times: What The Iran Confrontation Means For INDOPACOM And North Korea

USNI News: Estimated $380 Billion Needed To Maintain Navy, Marine Corps Aviation Fleet In The Future

Air Force Magazine: Space Force’s First Launch Takes SpaceX Satellites to Orbit

New York Times: China Looms Over Taiwan’s Election, Giving a Boost to the Incumbent

Reuters: Indonesia Deploys Fighter Jets In Stand-Off With China

New York Times: Rebels in Libya Capture the Key Coastal City of Surt

Washington Examiner: Opinion: Why Iran’s retaliation is indirectly good for America

Calendar

WEDNESDAY | JANUARY 8

10:30 a.m. 1789 Massachusetts Ave. N.W. — American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research book discussion on “Seven Pillars: What Really Causes Instability in the Middle East?” with co-author Michael Rubin, resident scholar at AEI; co-author Brian Katulis, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress; A. Kadir Yildirim, fellow at the Rice University Baker Institute for Public Policy; and Carol Giacomo, editorial writer at the New York Times. http://www.aei.org

2 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. N.W. — Center for Strategic and International Studies forum “Strategic Japan: Shaping the Rules Based Order in the Reiwa Era.” https://www.csis.org/events

7 p.m. 5015 Connecticut Ave. N.W. — Politics and Prose book discussion on “The Age of Illusions: How America Squandered Its Cold War Victory,” with author Andrew Bacevich, professor emeritus of history and international relations at Boston University. https://www.politics-prose.com/event

THURSDAY | JANUARY 9

9 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. N.W. — Center for Strategic and International Studies discussion “Examining NASA’s Role in U.S. Foreign Policy, with NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine; and Todd Harrison, director of the CSIS Aerospace Security Project. https://www.csis.org/events

11 a.m. 7777 Arundel Mills Blvd., Hanover, Md. — Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association discussion, with Dave Frederick, deputy director of the National Security Agency’s Cybersecurity Directorate. https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register

2 p.m. 1030 15th St. N.W. — Atlantic Council discussion “U.S.-Iran Tensions Rising with Iraq in the Middle,” with Abbas Kadhim, director of the Atlantic Council’s Iraq Initiative; Barbara Slavin, director of the Atlantic Council’s Future of Iran Initiative; William Wechsler, director of the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center; and Thomas Warrick, nonresident senior fellow in the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center. https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event

5 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. N.W. — Center for Strategic and International Studies discussion on “2020 Challenges Ahead,” with Kathleen Hicks, director of the CSIS International Security Program; Stephanie Segal, chair in political economy at CSIS; Sarah Ladislaw, director of the CSIS Energy and National Security Program; Beverly Kirk, director of the CSIS Smart Women, Smart Power Initiative; and Bob Schieffer, former host of CBS News’ “Face the Nation.” https://www.csis.org/events

FRIDAY | JANUARY 10

8:30 a.m. 300 First St. S.E. — Air Force Association’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies “Space Power to the Warfighter” seminar, with Air Force Maj. Gen. John Shaw, combined force space component commander of U.S. Space Command and commander of 14th Air Force. http://www.mitchellaerospacepower.org/events

9 a.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. N.W. — Brookings Institution discussion “The Army’s Strategy in the Indo-Pacific,” with Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy; and Michael O’Hanlon, senior foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution. https://www.brookings.edu/events

MONDAY | JANUARY 13

11:15 a.m. 2401 M St. N.W. — Foundation for Defense of Democracies National Security Summit, with keynote address by Vice President Mike Pence. Register at https://fdd.wufoo.com/forms