Intel Signs Show Iran Proxies ‘Preparing to Attack’ U.S. Bases in Retaliation for Trump Strike, Official Tells NYT

(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

The New York Times on Sunday reported that American intelligence has picked up signs that militias or armed groups backed by Iran are “preparing” for attacks on U.S targets in Iraq or even Syria.

Citing an unnamed U.S. official in an update to the paper’s live feed, the NYT reported first in a brief update:

American military and intelligence officials have detected signs that Iran-backed militias are preparing to attack U.S. bases in Iraq, and possibly Syria, in retaliation for the U.S. strikes in Iran. But so far the groups have held off, and Iraqi officials are working hard to dissuade militia action, a U.S. official said on Sunday.

In a more comprehensive overview on the latest news published moments ago, the Times wrote:

Iranian officials castigated the United States for the strikes, with the country’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, saying at a news conference in Istanbul that Iran “reserves all options to defend its security interests and people.” He declined to be more specific, including about whether Iran would retaliate against U.S. military assets in the Middle East, where more than 40,000 American military personnel are on bases and warships.

The U.N. secretary general, António Guterres, called for diplomacy at an emergency meeting of the Security Council, saying that the world now risked “descending into a rathole of retaliation after retaliation.”

But American military and intelligence officials had already detected signs that Iran-backed militias were preparing to attack U.S. bases in Iraq, and possibly Syria, in response. Iraqi officials were working hard to dissuade militia action, a U.S. official said on Sunday.

Conservative pundit Mark Levin posted on social media not long after this news went out, noting that the U.S. is now “bracing for asymmetric retaliation.”

Ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee Rep. Ro Khanna expressed his concerns about rapid retaliation on Sunday when speaking to CNN.

This is a developing story and may be updated.