DOD wants Patriot system in Iraq to protect U.S. forces from Iranian missiles

Defense Secretary Mark Esper said today the United States is working with the Iraqi government to deploy a Patriot surface-to-air missile battery capable of intercepting the type of short-range ballistic missiles Iran used to attack U.S. forces in Iraq earlier this month.

“We need the permission of the Iraqis,” he told reporters during a Pentagon press conference.

Esper said U.S. Central Command chief Gen. Kenneth McKenzie has requested the Patriot deployment.

“The commander feels he needs them,” Esper said. “In this case, we support the commander, given what happened.”

On Jan. 7, Iran launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles targeting Iraqi military bases hosting U.S. military and coalition personnel at Al-Assad and Irbil, requiring dozens of U.S. servicemembers to subsequently be treated for traumatic brain injury. The total number of injured U.S. troops remains unclear.

The attack was a retaliation for a U.S. airstrike that killed Qasem Soleimani, an Iranian military official. The Trump administration alleged Soleimani was plotting “imminent” attacks on American targets, but has declined to present public evidence to support the assertion.

Esper has previously said Soleimani was a “legitimate target” whose “time was due.”

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, who spoke alongside Esper today, said the Pentagon is working on the logistics of deploying a Patriot battery to Iraq.

“A Patriot battalion is not a small organization; it’s relatively large,” he said.

Asked whether the Patriot system could have shot down the Iranian missiles, he said he “can’t say for certain . . . but that is exactly what they are designed to do.”