Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has described Iran's missile attack to the US base in Iraq as a "proportionate measure" which came "in self-defence".

He wrote on Twitter that Iran took and concluded proportionate measures in self-defence under Article 51 of UN Charter targeting the base from which the cowardly armed attack against the citizens and senior officials were launched.

Zarif went on to stress that they do not seek escalation or war but will defend themselves against any aggression.

CNN reports Iran launched more than a dozen missiles at two Iraqi bases that hold US troops in what appears to be retaliation for the American airstrike that killed a top Iranian general last week.

The attack comes days after the US killed top Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in an airstrike in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.

CNN reports the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in the event Iranian soil is bombed, it will target the cities of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, and Haifa in Israel, in the third wave of operations.

CNN further reports that Iranian Revolutionary Guard says  in a footnote, “This time we will respond to you in America”
 

[Source: Islamic Republic News Agency, CNN]