Attacks were launched on US embassies in Norway and Iraq on Saturday night as the crisis in the Middle East threatens to spiral out of control.
Rocket fire aimed at the US Embassy in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad was blamed on ‘rogue groups’ by local officials.
Footage appeared to show a US Army C-RAM interceptor system shooting down the rocket fire, sending a stunning red laser across the skies as it took down the munitions.
A security source told AFP that four rockets were launched toward the embassy. Three were intercepted but one fell in an open area in the embassy’s airbase.
There have not been any reports of injuries so far. Non-emergency staff were ordered to leave the embassy four days ago amid the escalating tensions.
Meanwhile in Norway, a large explosion was also reported outside the US Embassy in Oslo at 1am local time.
The explosion caused ‘minor injuries’ and damage to the consular entrance of the embassy, Oslo Police Chief Michael Dellemyr told NKR.
The source of the explosion in Oslo or who was responsible is unclear, police said.
Smoke was seen rising from the area around the embassy compound, eyewitnesses told Norwegian outlet Verdens Gang.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani indicated the attack in Baghdad was launched by a rebel group, saying that he ordered his security forces to find the perpetrators of the ‘terrorist act.’
‘The perpetrators of these attacks are committing an offence against Iraq, its sovereignty, and its security. These rogue groups that operate outside the framework of the law in no way represent the will of the Iraqi people,’ the Shia al-Sudani said.
Iraqi security officials told AP that the missile that evaded interception landed on the helicopter landing pad in the embassy’s airbase.
The attack marked the first such strike on Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses government offices and diplomatic missions, since the US-Israeli strikes on Iran eight days ago.
It comes as President Donald Trump admitted he may ‘possibly’ deploy US troops on the ground in Iran, but said there would have to be a ‘very good reason’ for him to do so.
The president floated the idea on Air Force One on Saturday, after attending the dignified transfer of the remains of six US servicemembers killed so far in his war with Iran.
His remarks came as Israel launched a fresh wave of airstrikes on Tehran, engulfing the Iranian capital in fireballs as plumes of black smoke filled the skies across the region.
Stunning footage circulating social media showed apocalyptic scenes in the capital on Saturday night, which came as the Israeli military said it was moving into a ‘new phase’ of the war by targeting Iranian oil refineries and storage sites.
Hours earlier, Iran sent another barrage of retaliatory strikes at its Gulf neighbors, with debris from an intercepted missile striking the luxury 23 Marina skyscraper in Dubai.
In a separate incident in Dubai, one man was killed after debris from an ‘aerial interception’ fell on his car, and Dubai Airport was evacuated following an Iranian drone attack.
The strikes were launched while Iran’s de facto leader Ali Larijani told state media that the nation would not cede to Trump’s demands for ‘unconditional surrender’, and he vowed that the United States ‘must pay the price’ for killing late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
In a furious speech on Saturday night to state media, Larijani said: ‘Americans must know that we will not let them go.’
‘When the enemy attacks us from military bases in the region, we will respond, this is our right and our policy.
‘We don’t want the region to be destabilized but the essence of this war will destabilize the region.’
The reciprocal strikes have threatened to spiral the war across the Middle East out of control, with Trump earlier warning that he was considering sending a mega-strike he dubbed ‘the big one’ this weekend.
Larijani, the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, who many consider the most powerful man Iran after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was assassinated, issued a series of outlandish, issued a string of unverified claims about the conflict on X on Saturday night.
The leader claimed that American soldiers have been taken prisoner, and baselessly accused Donald Trump of lying about the number of American military deaths.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the stories were unfounded, and told Al Jazeera: ‘The Iranian regime’s claims of capturing American soldiers are yet another example of its lies and deceptions.’
They issued the rebuke after Larijani accused Trump of ‘promoting a misleading narrative’ about the six American soldiers killed in Iranian strikes in the week since the war broke out. Larijani previously alleged that the true number of US casualties is ‘over 500.’
‘Then, soon enough, with the passage of time, they gradually increase the number of the dead, under various pretexts, such as incidental accidents or fabricated incidents,’ he said in an X post.
In another post minutes later, Larijani added: ‘Under the pretext of an accident, they will inflate the number of casualties.’
‘It has been reported to me that several American soldiers have been taken prisoner. But the Americans claim that they have been killed in action. Despite their futile efforts, the truth is not something they can hide for too long,’ Larijani said in another post.
