The Shoe Drops: Iran immediately claimed responsibility last night for ballistic missile attacks on two US air bases  in Iraq in retaliation for the killing of their most senior general in Baghdad.

  American authorities said at least a dozen missiles slammed into the sprawling Asad and Erbil air bases. “It is clear that these missiles were launched from Iran and targeted at least two Iraqi military bases hosting U.S. military and coalition personnel at Al-Asad and Erbil,” Jonathan Hoffman, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, said in a statement.

  So far there are no reports of casualties. Iran claims they killed 80 Americans and 200 wounded, although they offered no proof. 

  “The fierce revenge by the Revolutionary Guards has begun,” Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement.

  But a more measured statement from Iran’s foreign minister said Iran took “proportionate measures” and “We do no seek escalation or war.” It appears to be a message that says, “We’re done, if you’re done.”

  President Trump has promised swift and fierce retaliation if Iran strikes to avenge the death of Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani. If the US hits back within Iranian territory, a wider war could swiftly ensue.

  Before last night’s attacks, Trump and his administration had been trying to manage fallout from killing Suleimani. Defense Secretary Mark  Esper said Maj. Suleimani was planning major attacks to occur within days of what turned out to be his demise. Neither Esper nor President Trump have said what the attacks might have been. Esper Suleimani had gone to Baghdad on the day of his death “to coordinate additional attacks.”

  There’s been a lot of debate about whether Suleimani was a legitimate military target, or a figure of state considered off limits. Esper said, “He has the blood of hundreds of Americans, soldiers, on his hands and wounded thousands more.” He went on to say, “To somehow suggest that he wasn’t a legitimate target, I think, is fanciful. He was clearly on the battlefield.”

737 Down: A Ukrainian Boeing 737-800 airliner crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran yesterday, killing all 176 people on board. So far no cause has been given for the crash of the Ukraine International Airlines flight bound for Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital. 

  An official at the Iranian Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, told the Islamic Republic News Agency, the government’s official news agency, that an engine caught fire and the pilot was unable to regain control.

Trying Patience: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he’s ready to proceed with a trial of President Trump without calling witnesses or admitting new evidence.

  This comes a day after former National Security Adviser John Bolton, who must know a lot about the Ukraine matter, said he is willing to testify.

  McConnell’s plan mirrors the trial of Bill Clinton in 1999, but in that case all 100 senators agreed there would be no witnesses. Not so with the Democrats today. Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer said, “Who ever heard of a trial without witnesses and documents?”

  McConnell, who wasn’t trying to make anyone laugh, has said “fair is fair.” This is the guy who wouldn’t even allow Barack Obama’s last Supreme Court nominee a hearing. McConnell can plan, but he can’t actually throw the trial until House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sends over the Articles of impeachment.  She says she’s holding out until McConnell assures her of a fair trial.

The Domestic Scene: A Connecticut man whose wife disappeared last spring has been charged with her murder. Fotis Dulos, 52 and his former girlfriend Michelle Troconis, 45, have been arrested and charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the apparent death of 50-year-old Jennifer Dulos, whose body has never been found.

  The couple had split and were in a custody battle over their five children when Jennifer Dulos went missing.

  Also charged is lawyer Kent Mawhinney, who is accused of digging a grave prior to the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos.

The Bulletin Board: On the verge of bankruptcy, Pier 1 Imports announced it’s closing 450 stores, a little less than half its outlets. And the dairy giant Borden with the smiling cow on the label filed bankruptcy citing declining prices, rising costs, and fewer people drinking milk. — A Judge has ruled that Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter is the father of a 17-month-old child born to a former stripper. — The death rate from cancer in the United States has dropped 29 percent since 1991, the American Cancer Society reports. 

The Obit Page: Elizabeth Wurtzel, who broke into the literary world with her memoir “Prozac Nation” in 1997 when she was just 27, has died of breast cancer at 52.

  Wurtzel had the BRCA gene, which gives a woman at least a 50 percent chance of developing breast cancer. She didn’t know until it was too late.

  She began writing “Prozac” when she was still a student at Harvard, presenting a confessional of drug use, casual sex, and depression. She got mixed reviews, but the book was a bestseller and was at the forefront of a wave of confessional memoirs. She wrote in 1995 that, “If ‘Prozac Nation’ has any particular purpose,” she wrote, “it would be to come out and say that clinical depression is a real problem, that it ruins lives, that it ends lives, that it very nearly ended my life.”

Who is Ken Jennings: Ken Jennings, the man who seems to know everything, won last night’s first confrontation in a three-way contest to determine the greatest “Jeopardy!” player of all time. He’s up against fellow knowledge nerds Brad Rutter and James Holzhauer.

  The special series continues until one player wins three matches of two consecutive games. The winner gets $1 million.

  Jennings is almost a savant. To the clue “A congenial game bird under glass given as a gift,” Jennings quickly responded, “What is a pleasant pheasant present?”

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