An attack drone struck the U.S. embassy compound in Baghdad, Iraq on Tuesday, causing a fire, witnesses told international media.
Reports in the aftermath of the attack did not say whether anyone was injured, but four people died in a separate explosion in Baghdad, which may have been a U.S. or Israeli strike on Iranian proxies, AFP reported.
The defense ministries of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait reported several waves of Iranian projectiles on Monday night and Tuesday morning, with the UAE reporting 10 ballistic missiles and 45 UAVs launched from Iran.
Operations at the Shah gas field of the United Arab Emirates remained suspended on Tuesday due to the attack. A fresh attack caused a fire in the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone of the UAE, AFP reported.
The attack in Iraq, in which a hotel was also hit, was the most intense since the launch of the U.S.-Israeli military operations against Iran on Feb. 28, Reuters quoted Iraqi security sources as saying.
The U.S. C-RAM air defense system shot down two out of at least three drones that approached the embassy in Baghdad, Reuters reported.
Iran has launched hundreds of projectiles at Israel since Feb. 28 and hundreds more toward at least 10 of its neighbors in what is widely understood as an attempt to generate international pressure on Israel and the United States to end their military operations against the Islamic Republic.
Iran has vowed to shut down maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, a bottleneck along a major shipping route in the Persian Gulf. The UAE and other oil producers have shipped most of the products through the Straight, en route to India, China, South Korea and Japan.
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened Iran from this traffic, and this week ordered strikes on Kharg Island, an outcrop that Iran depends on to ship its petroleum. Trump ordered that petroleum infrastructure not be damaged during the strikes, he said.
In Israel, Iranian projectiles have killed 14 people directly and another six people who died because of circumstances created by the attacks, such as traffic accidents, according to Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS).
Iranian attacks have claimed 41 lives outside Israel since Feb. 28, INSS said. Iran has launched more projectiles at the UAE and other Middle Eastern countries than at Israel, according to INSS.
On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said an Israeli strike in Iran had killed Ali Larijani, one of the regime’s key figures and Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran.
On Monday, the Iran-aligned group Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq announced the death of its senior commander and spokesperson. Air strikes had killed at least eight of that group‘s fighters in the Iraqi town of al-Qaim near Syria, the same group said.
Iraqi security forces have been deployed across parts of the capital and closed Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone, which houses government buildings and diplomatic missions, including the U.S. embassy, Reuters reported.
