DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – Iran's launching of more than a dozen missiles at American-led forces in Iraq on Wednesday came after years of preparing for a confrontation with its superpower foe, whose forces are vastly larger and more advanced. The Persian Gulf country has more than 500,000 active-duty personnel, including 125,000 members of its elite Revolutionary Guard, according to a report last year by the International Institute for Strategic Studies. But international sanctions and restrictions on arms imports have made it hard for Iran to develop or buy more sophisticated weaponry. To compensate for the imbalance, Iran has developed "asymmetric" responses -- ballistic missiles, deadly drones and a web of militia allies in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, among other things -- with the aim of being able to inflict pain while avoiding the traditional battlefield. "From a conventional military perspective, they would get absolutely hammered," said a British former military commander who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Americans should be on heightened alert for cyberattacks after Iran fired more than a dozen missiles at two military bases in Iraq where U.S. troops are stationed late Tuesday, security researchers say. Iran could target private businesses and government infrastructure to avenge last week's killing of its top military commander as tensions between Tehran and Washington reach one of their highest points since the 1979 Iranian revolution. "I am not predicting it will happen, but if it happens, I won't be surprised," said Steven Bellovin, a computer science professor at Columbia University School of Engineering. A cyber conflict has been silently raging for years. In retaliation for the U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad last week, Iran could target the power and electricity you use, the smart devices you carry or your bank account, security experts say.

TEHRAN – Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei wept Monday over the casket of a top general killed last week in a U.S. airstrike, his prayers joining the wails of mourners who flooded the streets of Tehran demanding retaliation against America for a slaying that has drastically raised tensions across the Middle East. The Tehran funeral for Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani drew a crowd said by police to be in the millions, filling thoroughfares and side streets as far as the eye could see. Although there was no independent estimate, aerial footage and journalists suggested a turnout of at least 1 million, and the throngs were visible on satellite images of Tehran taken Monday. Authorities later brought his remains and those of the others to Iran's holy city of Qom, where another massive crowd turned out. The outpouring of grief was an unprecedented honor for a man viewed by Iranians as a national hero for his work leading the Guard's expeditionary Quds Force.

Fox News media analyst Howie Kurtz, host of'Media Buzz,' breaks down the coverage of the U.S. drone strike that killed Iran's top general, Qassem Soleimani. The Associated Press was ridiculed on Monday for reporting on the feelings of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who openly cried during the funeral of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. "Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, wept openly at the funeral for Gen. Qassem Soleimani. His tears give insight into how the death of the commander killed in a U.S. strike is being felt personally by the supreme leader," the AP sent from its verified Twitter account. The tweet accompanied a link to a story headlined, "Iranian leader's tears a sign of respect for slain general."

WASHINGTON – U.S. lawmakers have few options for tamping down any escalation by President Donald Trump of tensions with Iran, despite Democrats' outrage over his failure to inform Congress in advance about a strike against a top Iranian military commander. Members of Congress begin to return from their year-end holiday recess on Monday, and Democrats said they will attempt quickly to pass legislation to bar Trump -- or any future U.S. commander-in-chief -- from conducting a campaign against Iran without obtaining Congress' approval. Late on Sunday, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the Democratic-led chamber would introduce and vote this week on a War Powers Resolution that would force Trump to stop military action against Iran within 30 days. But with Trump's fellow Republicans in control of the Senate and showing little inclination to break from their party's leader, there is scant expectation any legislation could win enough support to become law. Longtime foes Tehran and Washington have been in a war of words since Friday, when Qassem Soleimani was killed in a U.S. drone strike at Baghdad airport.

President Trump continued issuing threatening warnings Sunday that more action would come if Iran retaliates against the U.S. for the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, which critics have been calling an illegal action taken without consulting Congress. "These Media Posts will serve as notification to the United States Congress that should Iran strike any U.S. person or target, the United States will quickly & fully strike back, & perhaps in a disproportionate manner," he tweeted Sunday afternoon. "Such legal notice is not required, but is given nevertheless!" Many Democrats in Congress had said the Trump administration failed to consult with legislative leaders before conducting the drone attack Friday against Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite Quds Force, and the White House faced a barrage of questions about the killing's legality. "I really worry that the actions the president took will get us into what he calls another endless war in the Middle East. He promised we wouldn't have that," said Chuck Schumer of New York, the Senate's top Democrat.

TEHRAN – Black-clad mourners packed Iran's second city Mashhad on Sunday as the remains of top Gen. Qassem Soleimani were paraded through the streets after he was killed in a US strike. "Iran's wearing black, revenge, revenge," they chanted as darkness fell and they followed a truck carrying Soleimani's coffin towards the floodlit Imam Reza shrine. The mourners threw scarves onto the roof of the truck so that they could be blessed by the "blood of the martyr. Soleimani, who spearheaded Iran's Middle East operations as commander of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, was killed in a U.S. drone strike Friday near Baghdad airport. The attack was ordered by President Donald Trump, who said the Quds commander had been planning an "imminent" attack on U.S. diplomats and forces in Iraq. Soleimani's remains had been returned before dawn to the southwestern city of Ahvaz, where the air resonated with Shiite chants and shouts of "Death to America" during a procession. People held aloft portraits of Soleimani, one of the country's most popular public figures, who is seen as a hero of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. The "million-man" turnout in Mashhad, northeastern Iran, forced the cancellation of a Sunday night ceremony in Tehran, said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who urged citizens instead to attend a memorial Monday at Tehran University. In the face of growing Iraqi anger over the strike, the country's parliament Sunday urged the government to oust the roughly 5,200 American troops in Iraq. Soleimani's assassination ratcheted up tensions between arch-enemies Tehran and Washington and sparked fears of a new Middle East war. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, vowed "severe revenge" and declared three days of mourning. Late Saturday Trump warned that America would target 52 sites "important to Iran & Iranian culture" and hit them "very fast and very hard" if American personnel or assets were attacked. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted that "targeting cultural sites is a WAR CRIME.

The American drone attack that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani last week is the latest move in a low-level war between Iran and the U.S. that has been waged with varying degrees of intensity for over 40 years – and is likely to continue long into the future. Some people fear that recent events will escalate the long conflict into a costly all-out war between the two countries. Others may welcome what they see as the necessary and inevitable showdown leading ultimately to regime change in Tehran. The killing of Soleimani – the most prominent military figure in Iran and close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – can be seen as an escalation and will almost certainly provoke Iranian retaliation. President Trump's boast of ordering the killing of Soleimani may further increase pressure on Iran to respond.

The U.S. drone strike this week that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani – a terrorist murderer responsible for thousands of deaths – resulted in extensive news coverage that criticized President Trump for ordering his killing and falsely portrayed Soleimani in a positive light. Journalists couldn't pile on enough praise or make enough ridiculous comparisons glorifying Soleimani – from the despicable to the ridiculous. He was like Gen. George Patton or the Duke of Wellington (Business Insider), and former French President Charles de Gaulle or the French Foreign Legion (CNN). That strategy was hardly new. Back in 2017, Time magazine piled on the praise, saying Soleimani was "James Bond, Erwin Rommel and Lady Gaga rolled into one." Wacky leftist "Young Turks" correspondent/producer Emma Vigeland joined the postmortem comparison chorus with her own oddball take: "Imagine the Iranian government assassinated Mike Pompeo with a drone, at the direction of the president, and called it self-defense," she wrote.

Fox Business reporter Jackie DeAngelis on how the U.S. strike will impact oil prices and the economy. The threat Friday by a top Iranian military leader to attack "vital American targets" in or near the Strait of Hormuz – the waterway through which about 20 percent of the world's oil is transported – illustrates why President Trump's pro-American energy policies are critical to our national security. Iranian leaders have promised military action to retaliate for the killing of terrorist Gen. Qassem Soleimani in a U.S. drone strike this week that was ordered by President Trump. Soleimani commanded the elite Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and was killed because he was planning deadly new attacks against Americans and others, President Trump and other U.S. officials have said. Senior Revolutionary Guards commander Gen. Gholamali Abuhamzeh said Friday that "the Strait of Hormuz is a vital point for the West and a large number of American destroyers and warships cross there."