A senior Iranian commander said Iran's missile attacks on U.S. targets in Iraq did not aim to kill American soldiers but sought to damage Washington's "military machine" and were the start of a series of attacks across the region, state television reported.

Amirali Hajizadeh, the head of the Revolutionary Guards Aerospace Force, also said the "appropriate revenge" for the U.S. killing of prominent Iranian General Qassem Soleimani was to expel U.S. forces from the Middle East, state TV said.

He also said Iran had hundreds of missiles at the ready and when Tehran launched missiles on Wednesday it had used "cyber attacks to disable (U.S.) plane and drone navigation systems."