After the Prime Minister of Iraq, Nouri Al-Maliki, confirmed in a press conference at 8:10 Friday evening that US interceptors in Iraq shot down Iranian missiles on their way to Iraq, U.S. officials did the same.
The U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said in a written statement “we confirm that the U.S. intercepted Israeli bound missile fired from Iran. We continue to regard Iraqi air space as a no-fly zone.”
Maliki would not release any other information. Earlier this evening an official in the Iraqi National Intelligence Service, who spoke without authorization, confirmed nine missiles were fired from Iraq into Israel. The Iraqi official said four of those missiles were shot down by U.S. interceptors based in Iraq.
