Donald Trump responds to Iran attacking their military base in Iraq last night

President Trump addressed the nation from the White House for 10 minutes after Iran fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles at two Iraqi military bases housing US troops overnight. US and Iraqi sources said there were no known casualties.

The attack was retaliation by Iran after its top general Qasem Soleimani was killed in a US airstrike in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.

President Trump said US forces are “prepared for anything,” but for now, “Iran appears to be standing down.”

“Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world,” Trump said.

Watch Trump’s opening remarks:

LIVE: President @realDonaldTrump Addresses the Nation https://t.co/vRH9gVAD0N

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 8, 2020

Trump said, “No Americans were harmed in last night’s attack by the Iranian regime.”

“We suffered no casualties. All of our soldiers are safe and only minimal damage was sustained at our military bases.”

President Trump just began his remarks with this quote:

“As long as I’m President of the United States, Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.”

The President is speaking from the White House about Iran. Watch it live above. We will also be posting highlights here.

Iran’s choice of missile ensured Americans would have a warning

Analysis from CNN’s Nick Paton Walsh.

Jeremy Binnie, the Middle East and Africa editor at British military magazine Jane’s Defence Weekly, said the choice of what was likely a Qiam ballistic missile carried some risk — but it also likely ensured several minutes of warning for the Americans when the attack hit their radars.

“The attack on Saudi Arabia last year used cruise missiles and UAVs, while these were ballistic missiles.” he said. “That might have been a deliberate decision to minimize damage, as the Iranians would have known that the ballistic trajectories could be picked up much more easily by radars, providing early warning of the attack”

About the Qiam missile: Binnie said that, according to images released, the missile recovered near Ain al-Assad Air Base was a Qiam, a type that was “recently upgraded with a new re-entry vehicle that has fins so that it can steer itself towards its target”

He said these missiles had been used before to attack ISIS and Kurdish rebels in Iraq, “but their accuracy and reliability was spotty.”

“Some missiles failed to reach the target area, while others missed their apparent targets,” Binnie said. “If the Iranians were aiming for uninhabited areas at the Iraqi bases, there consequently was still some risk they would accidentally hit a bunker where coalition personnel were sheltering.”

Some background: There is a growing belief among some US officials that Iran’s missiles intentionally missed areas populated by Americans , multiple Trump administration officials said.