BAGHDAD (Washington Insider Magazine) – Iran assumed responsibility for a missile assault that hit near a huge US consulate building in northern Iraq on Sunday, claiming it was in retribution for an Israeli attack in Syria early this week that killed 2 people of its Revolutionary Guard.
Iraq’s Foreign Ministry summoned Iran’s envoy on Sunday to express its outrage at the incident, which it described as a gross breach of the nation’s sovereignty.
According to ABC NEWS, no injuries were recorded in Sunday’s raid on the city of Irbil, which represented a major intensification between Iran and the US. Long-standing animosity between the two countries has been shown in Iraq, whose administration is aligned with both.
The Iraqi government harshly condemned the incident, calling it a “violation of international law and norms” and demanding an explanation from Iran’s government. The Iranian minister, Iraj Masjedi, was called to present the diplomatic complaint, according to Iraq’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ahmad al-Sahhaf.
The attack was harshly denounced by the US, who described it as an unlawful attack on a residential home.
According to State Department spokesperson Ned Price, no US facilities were destroyed or workers were hurt. According to him, the US had no information that the strike was targeted at the country.
On its website, Iran’s formidable Revolutionary Guard claimed responsibility for an assault on an Israeli intelligence center near Irbil. It did not go into detail but stated in a statement that Israel was on the offensive, citing a recent attack that killed 2 Revolutionary Guard personnel. According to the semi-official Tasnim news agency, Iran launched 10 Fateh missiles, including three Fateh-110 missiles with a range of roughly 300 kilometers, according to an anonymous source (186 miles).
The incident, according to the source, resulted in several casualties. Israel has made no immediate response to the charges or the Iranian missile onslaught.
Initially, an Iraqi source in Baghdad claimed that three missiles had struck the new and vacant US embassy in Irbil, and it had been the primary target of the strike. Later, Lawk Ghafari, the chief of Kurdistan’s international media office, reported that none of the missiles hit the US base, but that residential neighborhoods around it were damaged.
After a Council meeting, the Iraqi administration in Baghdad restated its rejection to enable Iraq to be misused to settle international disputes, saying it had demanded an explanation from Iran’s leadership.
The incident happened after Iran indicated it would react following an Israeli attack near Damascus, Syria, which killed 2 Revolutionary Guard personnel. Iran’s state-run IRNA news service said on Sunday that Iraqi media acknowledged the strikes in Irbil, but did not identify where they came from.
