Iraqi PM received verbal message from Iran that Iranian response to assassination of Qassem Soleimani started or was about to start

Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi received word from Iran that its response to the U.S. killing of its top general was either imminent or under way, his spokesmansaid on Wednesday.

“Shortly after midnight on Wednesday we received a verbal message from the Islamic Republic of Iran that the Iranian response to the assassination of the martyr Qassem Soleimani had started or was about to start,” his spokesman said.

Tehran told Abdul Mahdi it would only target locations where U.S. forces were present but did not specify the locations, the spokesman said in a statement.

Abdul Mahdi received a call from the United States while missiles were falling on the American wing of the air base in Anbar province and an air base in Erbil, the spokesman said.

Iranian forces fired missiles at military bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq in retaliation for the U.S. killing of the Iranian general, raising the stakes in its conflict with Washington amid concern of a wider war in the Middle East.