The
United States is trying to secure permission from
Iraq to take Patriot
missile defenses into the country to better defend U.S. forces after Iran's Jan. 8 missile attack, which wounded 50
American troops, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Thursday.

The United States did not have Patriot air defenses deployed to al-Asad air base in Iraq, where at least 11 of Iran's ballistic missiles struck, killing no one but triggering massive blasts that caused traumatic brain injury among U.S. forces.