Looks like Iran decided to implement a compromised solution. On one hand, they were afraid of making POTUS (or, more generally, Uncle Sam "on the whole") too angry and therefore fired missiles into the sand. On the other hand, after all those cries from their mullahs and top military, they had to shoot at the US troops in one way or another, otherwise they would look weak. And they did fire, and some missiles even hit the territory of a US base.
Let's hope that US would not escalate on the military front. No doubt that economically they are preparing a mortal coil, but that's another story.

Or......they were tracking them and knew they would miss and thus no action required.

Operation Mincemeat
 

Most international contingents have reported results openly.
Why the long blanket of silence from the U.S. side?

Perhaps you are not watching American Television very much.

President Trump will address the Nation at 11 AM (East Coast Time).

Pentagon official line is "Iran missiles were aiming to miss..."

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/202...q-latest-news/

US Intelligence agencies had advance warning of the Iranian Missile attack it appears.

Reports suggest intercepts of "chatter" inside Iraq and Iran gave notice of the coming attack.

That comes as no great surprise considering today's technology and capabilities it provides in certain forms of intel gathering.

Also....no doubt there are Humint Sources available to the various Western Powers that could also be providing useful information.

I wonder if they are reading the posts here at pprune.....to see what the strategic experts among us are saying?

BBC reports:

Three missiles hit north-west of Irbil - Iraqi TV

Two Iranian missiles landed in the village of Sidan, in Irbil province, and a third hit the Bardah Rashsh district in neighbouring Dohuk province, Iraqi state TV reported.

Sidan is about 16km (10 miles) north-west of the city of Irbil, while Bardah Rashsh is 47km (29 miles) to the north-west.

Iraq's military said five missiles were fired towards the Irbil base, where US-led coalition forces are deployed

If Irbil was the airfield targetted, how come the missiles missed by 10 and 29 miles? That would explain why they weren't intercepted. It will be interesting to see the impact points at Al-Asad and may give a better clue as to Iranian capability/intel/intent.

President Trump address on the hour

Money. They won’t fly around until told that they cannot take the shorter route.

POTUS Statement:

Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon while he is President.
No Americans were harmed - no Iraquis killed.
Only minimal damage sustained at bases.
Iran appears to be standing down.
Early warning system worked.

POTUS Statement in full:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti_dZLZpTXg#t=35m38s

The US obviously had good intel to kill the General in the first place. No, I don't want anyone to break OpSec to speculate.
The question on my mind is: who benefits from his demise? The US of course, but what about within Iran.
Will someone there gain from such a 'popular' soldiers death, which they can conveniently blame on 'the great Satan?'

Sorry just been reading Tom Clancy again...…..

I’m just grateful that, reading between the lines, the score is deemed by Iran to be 1-1. Let us ALL hope that they leave this particular scenario as closed.

Nothing, of course, will stop Iran’s Shi’te/Sunni conflict.

I don't think the US benefits in any material way. Soleimani will be replaced by someone with the same goals and intentions and leading the same forces with the same resources. Trump may benefit from approval of the move by his supporters, unless the widespread disapproval outweighs that.

Of course. The leadership is already benefiting because this situation has diverted the masses from recent protests against the government. Soleimani, however, was a close associate of the "Supreme Leader," so it's pretty unlikely that the Iranians would have chosen this move if they were seeking a false flag option.

Yes. Here's fervently hoping. No one should imagine that a full-scale war with Iran and the US as principals would be anything less than a disaster for all concerned and the region in general -- at least.

Or Saudi's, or Iraq's, or [insert favorite location where both sects live].

He should be cautious. JFK said the same to Israel and lived not even a year longer.

Yes, I got that impression too.
We can but hope.

When you see your predecessor turned into mince meat....it would tend to focus your mind upon the idea that following his lead might also lead to your own first hand experience with the full power of a Super Power wanting you to leave office with no notice as well.

The US is just about to be kicked out of Iraq, many trillion $ down the drain since 2003 for nothing! Leaving the field to the Iranians, the Russians and possibly ISIS. All the anti-iranian protests in Iraq - gone. The anti-government protests in Iran - gone. Iran rebooting their nuclear program. What a waste of money + time... What good intel? Successor to the general named, won't change a thing.