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accord with a new deal that would allow Iran to “thrive and prosper”. But Trump, who was impeached last month, also said he would impose more stringent sanctions on Iran, without giving details. Iran’s U.N. ambassador Majid- TakhtRavanchi said in response that Tehran could not trust any idea of dialogue when Trump was threatening to intensify the “economic terrorism” of sanctions, the official news agency IRNA reported. Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards also issued new threats to Washington, with one senior commander warning of “harsher revenge soon” and another saying Wednesday’s missile strikes were only the start of a series of attacks across the region. The new head of the Quds Force, which handles Iran’s foreign military operations, said he would follow the course pursued by his slain predecessor Soleimani. “We will continue in this luminous path with power,” Brigadier General EsmailGhaani said. Soleimani carved out a sphere of Iranian influence running through Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen, challenging regional rival Saudi Arabia as well the United States and Israel. Soleimani was a national hero whose funeral drew vast crowds of mourners. The West saw him as a dangerous and ruthless enemy. The military comments contrasted with Wednesday’s remarks by Iranian Foreign Minister JavadZarif, who said Tehran did not want an escalation. Despite tough talk, analysts said Iran would not seek a conventional war with Washington although it might turn to allied forces in the area. “I’m not expecting further direct attacks from Iran. We are likely to see more indirect responses through proxies,” said Ali Alfoneh, senior fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. He said there might be a chance for a negotiated solution to the latest standoff as “the Trump administration does not appear to actively pursue a war and Iran needs sanctions relief”. Trump has often criticized his predecessors for involving the United States in long and costly foreign wars. Washington said it had indications Tehran was telling its allies to refrain from new action against U.S. troops. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, speaking on Fox News, said: “We continue to receive word that Iran is standing down, but at the president’s direction we’re going to remain vigilant.” In neighboring Iraq, Muslim Shi’ite groups opposed to the U.S. presence there also sought to cool emotions that have been running high for weeks. Moqtada al-Sadr, an influential Shi’ite cleric opposed to U.S. and Iranian interference in Iraq, said the crisis was over and called on “Iraqi factions to be deliberate, patient, and not to start military actions”. Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia the United States blamed for an attack in Iraq in December that killed a U.S. contractor, said “passions must be avoided to achieve the desired results” of expelling U.S. forces. Washington said Iran launched 16 short-range ballistic missiles in Wednesday’s strikes, with at least 11 hitting Iraq’s al-Asad air base and one striking a facility in Erbil. Satellite pictures of al-Asad base before and after the strikes showed damage, including to aircraft hangers. The images offered limited insight into Iran’s strategy but gave some indication of missile accuracy, an analyst said. “The impacts are not scattershot across empty fields or airstrips on the southern side of the base,” DaraMassicot, policy researcher at RANDCorporation, said, adding that they did not appear to be purely symbolic strikes. “Early warning, maybe tip-offs, missile failures, and on-base readiness saved lives,” Massicot said. U.S. and European government sources said they believed Iran had deliberately sought to avoid U.S. military casualties in its missile strikes to prevent an escalation. President Donald Trump has stepped back from new military action against Iran after its missile strikes on Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops caused no casualties but he told Iran he would tighten already crippling U.S. sanctions. Trump and Iranian officials looked to defuse a crisis that on Wednesday had threatened to spiral into open conflict after the killing of a prominent Iranian general in Iraq on Jan. 3 in a U.S drone strike was followed by Iran’s retaliatory attack. The tit-for-tat military action, after months of rising tension since the United States withdrew in 2018 from Iran’s nuclear pact with world powers, had stoked global concerns that the Middle East was heading towards another war. But both sides drew back from the brink, while Arab and other international leaders called for restraint. In Iraq, Muslim Shi’ite groups, opposed to the U.S. presence in Iraq, also sought to cool passions. “The fact that we have this great military and equipment, however, does not mean we have to use it. We do not want to use it,” Trump told the nation after saying Iranian ballistic missiles fired in the early hours of Wednesday caused no casualties and limited damage. He said Iran “appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned” but he said the United States would impose additional sanctions on Iran, adding to measures that have slashed its oil exports and crippled its economy. Trump, who faces re-election this year and who accused predecessors of dragging the United States into unnecessary regional wars, did not say what new sanctions would involve. His comments came hours after Iran’s foreign minister said Iranian missile strikes “concluded” its response to the killing of Qassem Soleimani, a powerful general who masterminded Iran’s drive to build up proxy armies abroad. The minister, Javad Zarif, said on Twitter that Iran did not “seek escalation or war, but will defend ourselves against any aggression”. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had called Iran’s missile attack a “slap on the face” for the United States and said Iran remained determined to drive U.S. forces out of the region, a policy that analysts say it has pursued via its proxy forces. But Washington said it had indications Tehran was telling its allies to refrain from new action against U.S. troops. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told CBS News the United States was receiving “encouraging intelligence that Iran is sending messages” to its allied militias not to attack U.S. targets. Moqtada al-Sadr, an influential Shi’ite cleric opposed to U.S. and Iranian interference in Iraq, said the Iraq crisis was over and called on “Iraqi factions to be deliberate, patient, and not to start military actions”. Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia the United States blamed for an attack in Iraq in December that killed a U.S. contractor, said “amidst these conditions, passions must be avoided to achieve the desired results” of expelling U.S. forces. That contrasted with fiery comments early on Wednesday from Qais al- Khazali, leader of another Iran-backed militia, who said Iraqi forces should respond to the killing of Abu Mahdi al- Muhandis, who died with Soleimani in the Jan. 3 U.S. strike. Arab states, which lie across the Gulf from Iran and feared their region was being dragged into another conflict, also called for cooler heads to prevail in Iraq and beyond. “The brotherly Arab nation of Iraq today is in need of solidarity among its people to avoid war and becoming the site of a battle in which it would lose most,” Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan wrote on Twitter. In Trump’s address on Wednesday, he repeated his promise not to allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon – an ambition it denies ever having – and called for world powers to quit the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran that he abandoned. Trump said world powers should negotiate a new nuclear deal with Iran to replace the one set in place under Barack Obama. Iran has rejected new talks and said negotiations could not be held without an end to sanctions, which have sent Iran’s currency plunging and slashed vital oil revenues. There has been no immediate reaction from Iranian officials to Trump’s address. The semi-official Fars news agency described the U.S. president’s remarks as a “big retreat from threats”. Analysts have said Iran, despite its strident words, has wanted to avoid a conventional war with superior U.S. forces. U.S. and European government sources said they believed Iran had deliberately sought to avoid U.S. military casualties in its missile strikes to prevent an escalation. An Iranian army spokesman denied “foreign media reports” suggesting there was some kind of coordination between Iran and the United States before the attack to evacuate bases.
