Iraq has recalled its ambassador from Tehran and summoned Iran’s chargé d’affaires in Baghdad in protest over deadly Iranian missile strikes on its semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
The overnight attack was “a blatant violation of the sovereignty of the Republic of Iraq, strongly contradicts the principles of good neighborliness and international law, and threatens the security of the region,” the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said in a statement on January 16.
The Kurdish region’s prime Minister, Masrour Barzani, said that “there is no reason for these attacks and there is no excuse.”
“These attacks should not remain without a response,” he added.
A few hundred demonstrators gathered in Irbil to protest the attacks, in which at least four people were reported killed, among them Kurdish businessman Peshraw Dizayee and members of his family.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed it fired missiles at Israeli “spy headquarters” in an upscale neighborhood in Irbil, the seat of Iraq’s Kurdish region, and at targets linked to the extremist group Islamic State (IS) in northern Syria.
According to Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani, the strikes were “in line with the resolute defense of the country’s sovereignty and security, countering terrorism, and part of the Islamic Republic’s punishment against those who threaten the country’s security.”
The missile strikes come amid concerns of a wider spillover of the ongoing war between Israel and Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.
The Islamic Republic has vowed revenge for the killing of three IRGC members in Syria last month, including a senior commander, in a strike that was widely blamed on Israel.
The strikes also follow a deadly bombing attack in the southeastern Iranian city of Kerman early this month that was claimed by the IS group.
Iraq’s Foreign Ministry said the country’s authorities "will take all legal steps" necessary, including "lodging a complaint with the (UN) Security Council."
Baghdad will also publish the findings of an investigation into the strikes to prove to "the falseness of the allegations made by those responsible for these reprehensible actions."
The United States condemned Iran’s “reckless” missile strikes in Irbil. Officials said no US facilities were struck and there were no American casualties in the attacks in Iraq and Syria.
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