Baghdad: A missile slammed into a helipad inside the heavily fortified US Embassy compound here on Saturday morning, two Iraqi security officials said, heightening concerns amid the escalating conflict now in its second week.
Associated Press footage captured thick smoke rising over the massive complex — one of the world’s largest diplomatic outposts — that Iran-aligned militias have hammered repeatedly with rockets and drones.
Though the embassy has issued no comment, it had renewed Iraq’s Level 4 alert on Friday, citing threats from Iran and proxies to US personnel and assets.
Tensions surged as President Donald Trump announced US forces destroyed military sites on Kharg Island, Iran’s key oil export terminal. Via social media, he warned that Strait of Hormuz disruptions — now effectively sealed by Iran, stalling a fifth of global oil — could prompt oil infrastructure strikes.
This came a day after Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf cautioned that such island attacks would end restraint, underscoring their economic and defensive value.
Meanwhile, an anonymous official told the Associated Press that 2,500 Marines from Japan-based 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit and USS Tripoli are being deployed in the Middle East. First reported by The Wall Street Journal, the unit handles embassy security, evacuations, landings, and relief—not ground combat. The Tripoli, spotted near Taiwan, joins the Arabian Sea flotilla with USS Abraham Lincoln and eight destroyers. Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar hosts about 8,000 US troops.
The ongoing conflict has seen Iran persist in launching missile and drone barrages against Israel and several Gulf states, prompting retaliatory airstrikes by US and Israeli forces targeting sites deep inside Iranian territory. The Lebanon’s humanitarian situation also continues to deteriorate amid intensified Israeli operations against Hezbollah. These actions have resulted in nearly 800 deaths and over 850,000 people displaced, with no resolution or de-escalation in sight.
