WASHINGTON -— The U.S. will respond as appropriate to a rocket attack last week on an air base hosting U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.

While he stopped short of assigning blame on ABC’s “This Week,” an earlier rocket incident prompted U.S. airstrikes against Iranian-backed fighters in Syria in February.

“We’re still developing the intelligence” on the latest attack, Austin said in his first network interview as defense chief. Iran should know “that we’re going to defend our troops and our response will be thoughtful, it will be appropriate.”

“We’ll strike, if that’s what we think we need to do, at a time and place of our own choosing,” Austin said.