By Humeyra Pamuk, Kanishka Singh and Ismail Shakil
WASHINGTON, March 10 (Reuters) – A drone struck a major U.S. diplomatic facility in Iraq on Tuesday amid the U.S.-Israeli air war on Iran, but there were no injuries and everyone was accounted for, according to a U.S. official and an internal State Department alert seen by Reuters.
The drone hit the Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center, next to the Baghdad airport, impacting near a guard tower, the internal alert from the Department seen by Reuters said. Individuals at the facility were ordered to “duck and cover”, it said. A separate alert said everyone was accounted for.
The White House and the State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Washington Post first reported the incident and said a total of six drones were launched toward the compound in Baghdad and that five were shot down. It also said the attack was likely carried out by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed armed factions.
Iraq condemned the attacks near the Iraqi bases but did not mention the damaged U.S. facility, according to the Washington Post.
“The (Iraqi) Ministry of Defense stresses that it will not stand by as a spectator. Rather, it will firmly confront and pursue … all parties involved,” the ministry said in a statement cited by the newspaper.
The U.S. and Israel began attacks on Iran on February 28. Iran has responded with its own strikes on Israel and Gulf countries with U.S. bases.
Raising the stakes for the global economy, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it would block oil shipments from the Gulf unless U.S. and Israeli attacks cease.
The United States and Israel pounded Iran on Tuesday with what the Pentagon and Iranians on the ground called the most intense airstrikes of the war, despite global markets betting that President Donald Trump will seek to end the conflict soon.
The Revolutionary Guards said it fired missiles on Tuesday evening at Qatar’s U.S.-operated Al Udeid base and the Al Harir base in Iraq’s Kurdistan. Those launches were followed by drone attacks targeting a gathering of U.S. troops at Al Dhafra air base in the United Arab Emirates and Juffair naval base in Bahrain.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said the strikes were aimed to eliminate what he called imminent threats from Iran, citing its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and its support for militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah.
Iran, which denies seeking a nuclear weapon, has called the attacks an unlawful violation of its sovereignty. Iran does not have nuclear weapons. Israel is believed to be the only Middle Eastern country with nuclear weapons, while Washington is also nuclear-armed.
Israel says 11 civilians have been killed in Iranian attacks. Iran’s U.N. ambassador said on Tuesday the U.S.-Israeli strikes had killed more than 1,300 civilians.
(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk, Ismail Shakil and Kanishka Singh; Editing by Kate Mayberry and Michael Perry)
