78 times since January 2021, according to the senior American military commander for the Middle East, Iranian attacks have been launched against his soldiers.
Gen. Erik Kurilla stated that the US Central Command’s [CENTCOM] top priorities were to dissuade Iran, combat violent extremist groups, and engage in strategic competition with China and Russia.
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Iran, he continued, “remains the key factor destabilizing the area,” and he issued a warning that “the Iran of 2023 is not the Iran of 1983.”
CENTCOM was established 40 years ago to oppose the Iranian regime’s influence after it grabbed control of Tehran and to engage in strategic competition with what was the Soviet Union followed.
Gen. Kurilla also warned legislators that Iran had “exponentially” improved its military prowess since then. With hundreds of ballistic and cruise missiles, he claimed that Iran possessed the largest and most varied missile arsenal in the Middle East.
The US general claims that Tehran is also home to the most powerful and sizeable drone fleet in the areaAs Iran cultivates its ties and forms proxy groups across the Middle East, US interests continue to be threatened. Iran and Iran-backed groups have launched numerous attacks against American forces and interest in the CENTCOM area of responsibility.
For the first time, the military publicly disclosed the frequency of these attacks. Gen. Kurilla told lawmakers that the number of attacks since January 1, 2021, was “about 78 times.”
“What Iran does to hide its hand is they use Iranian proxies – that’s either UAVs or rockets to be able to attack our forces in Iraq or Syria,” he said. Asked if these were considered acts of war, Gen. Kurilla responded: “They are being done by the Iranian proxies.”
But the US has only responded three times, something which has not been reported before. “We have responded kinetically to three of those strikes. We also maintain non-kinetic options,” CENTCOM Spokesman Col. Joe Buccino told Al Arabiya English in an e-mailed statement.
