Iraqi Government Drops UN Complaint Against Iran Over IRGC Missile Strike in Erbil

Baghdad has withdrawn its complaint to the UN Security Council about an IRGC missile attack on a cluster of buildings in Erbil last month, according to Al-Arabi al-Jadeed.

The London-based news website quoted two unnamed Iraqi officials as saying the outgoing administration of Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi had cancelled the planned complaint against Iran due to what one described as “undisclosed pressures on the government”.

The authorities have also decided not to pursue a complaint with the Arab League or the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

The attack on Sunday, March 13 saw the IRGC fire a dozen ballistic missiles at an area of the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, including a US consulate complex.

Several of them hit the villa of Karim Barzanji, a Kurdish businessman active in the Iraqi Kurdish energy sector.

In a statement claiming responsibility, the Guards claimed the onslaught had targeted a “Zionist strategic center” in retaliation for the killing of two IRGC colonels in Syria by an Israeli air strike the previous week.

The Iraqi government had had submitted an official request to Tehran, via the Iranian ambassador to Baghdad, to provide proof that any part of the site was being used by Mossad as alleged. More than 20 days later, the sources told Al-Arabi al-Jadeed, they had received no response.

Emad Bajlan, a leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, has also stressed to the same outlet that political pressure compelled the Iraqi government to drop the complaint.

Two fact-finding committees, a governmental one and a parliamentary one, had been set up to investigate the incident. MPs in the parliamentary group came from various parliamentary blocs, including a Shiite set whose sympathies lay with Iran.

An official in the Iraqi National Security Council, which oversaw the governmental committee, had a different explanation for the case being dropped. “The internationalization of the case at this time may lead to the intervention of other parties who want to use it as a card against Iran. We prefer dialogue with the Iranians in light of our distinguished, direct relationship."