Iran Fires Ballistic Missiles At Iraq, Warns US And Israel

Illustration of Iran's Shahab-3 ballistic missile launch. (Wikimedia Commons/Hossein Velayati)

JAKARTA - Iran struck the northern Iraqi city of Erbil on Sunday with a dozen ballistic missiles, in an unprecedented attack on the capital of Iraq's Kurdish autonomous region, apparently targeting a warning against the United States and its allies.

The missiles fell in an area near the new US consulate building, according to Kurdish officials. US officials said no Americans were injured and US facilities were not hit either. Kurdish authorities said only one civilian was injured and no one was killed.

Iranian state media said Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) carried out the attack on Israel's "strategic center" in Erbil, suggesting it was revenge for a recent Israeli air strike that killed Iranian military personnel in Syria.

The attack, in which a huge explosion rattled the windows of a house in Erbil after midnight, was an attack that was publicly announced by Tehran against a Washington ally.

The last time Iran fired a missile directly at a US facility was when it attacked the Ain Al Asad air base in western Iraq in January 2020, in retaliation for the US assassination of Iranian commander Major General Qassem Soleimani.

Sunday's attack came as talks to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal faced the prospect of deadlock, after Russia's last-minute request forced world powers to halt negotiations for an indefinite time despite having the text largely completed.

It also came days after Israel carried out an airstrike in Syria, which the IRGC said killed two of its members and to cause them to vow retaliation.

The IRGC issued a statement about Sunday's attack that was reported by Iranian state media.

"Any repetition of attacks by Israel will be met with a strong, decisive and destructive response," he said.

Illustration of Iran's Shahab-3 ballistic missile launch. (Wikimedia Commons/Hossein Velayati)

The Iraqi Kurdish regional government said the attacks only targeted civilian residential areas, not sites belonging to foreign countries, calling on the international community to carry out an investigation.

In connection with the attack, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador in Baghdad in protest.

Separately, a US State Department spokesman called it an "outrageous attack", but said no Americans were injured and there was no damage to US Government facilities in Erbil.

Meanwhile, France's Foreign Ministry said the move threatened efforts to end nuclear talks with Iran.

US troops stationed in parts of the Erbil International Airport complex have in the past come under fire from rocket and drone attacks, with Washington accusing them of being carried out by Iran-aligned militia groups, but no such attacks have occurred so far. several months.

Asked about Sunday's attack, the Israeli military said it does not comment on reports in the foreign press and the prime minister's office declined to comment.

However, Iran-backed Shia Islamist militias since the death of Major General Soleimani have regularly attacked US troops stationed in Iraq and neighboring Syria. Washington sometimes retaliates with air strikes.

Meanwhile, some observers said Sunday's attack was retaliation against Israel and not aimed at the United States.

"Iran has carried out attacks on American targets and has not hesitated to publish this," said Hamidreza Azizi, Visiting Fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.

"I see this more as a warning sign for Israel and a show of force in negotiations," he said.

To note, Iraq has been rocked by chronic instability since the defeat of the Sunni Islamist group Islamic State in 2017 by a loose coalition of Iraqi forces, led by the US and backed by Iran.

Since then, Iran-aligned militias have regularly attacked US military and diplomatic sites in Iraq, US and Iraqi officials say. Iran has denied involvement in the attack.