Iraq Summons Iranian Envoy To Protest Against Missile Attack
Iraq's foreign ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador Sunday to protest against a ballistic missile attack on the city of Erbil, state news agency INA said.
Iraq's foreign ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador Sunday to protest against a ballistic missile attack on the city of Erbil, state news agency INA said.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards claimed responsibility for a dozen ballistic missiles that struck Erbil in the Kurdish autonomous region in the early hours of Sunday, Iranian state media reported.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi condemned the attack earlier that apparently targeted the US Consulate's new building in Erbil.
In a tweet a few hours after the attack, al-Kadhimi said, “The aggression which targeted the dear city of Erbil and spread fear amongst its inhabitants is an attack on the security of our people”.
He added that he discussed these developments with Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, noting that “Our security forces will investigate and stand firm against any threats towards our people”.
Iraq’s top Shiite politician and cleric Muqtada al-Sadr also condemned the attack and urged the government to let Iran know it cannot violate Iraq’s security.
Iran claimed it targeted a secret Israeli spy center in Erbil to avenge the death of two of its IRGC officers in Syria a week ago. But Israeli attacks on Iranian targets in Syria are frequent incidents and Tehran usually remains silent about its casualties.
With reporting by Reuters
Senior US officials Sunday appeared to suggest that Iran’s missile attack on Erbil would not impact the chances of concluding a nuclear agreement with Tehran.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday no US citizens were harmed, and no US facilities were hit in the Iranian ballistic missile attack on Erbil.
Sullivan condemned the attack by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard on Sunday, saying Washington would do whatever it takes to defend its people, interests and allies.
A statement by the State Department appeared to dispel the notion that Iran's attack had anything to do with the US.
"The United States strongly condemns the missile strikes on Erbil, Iraq last night that emanated from Iran. The strikes were an outrageous violation of Iraq’s sovereignty. No U.S. facilities were damaged or personnel injured, and we have no indications the attack was directed at the United States," the State Department said.
Iran’s missile attack came as diplomats have stopped nuclear talks in Vienna after 11 months of negotiations even though they say an agreement was very close to be finalized. The pause came after Russia on March 5 demanded an exemption from Ukraine sanctions in its economic and other relations with Iran. Tehran has not objected to Russia’s sudden move, which is bound to delay an agreement and lifting of Iran’s economic sanctions, vital for the government.
Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told Fox News on Sunday that “this was a very concerning attack” but "we do not believe the US consulate was actually the target of this missile attack."
She tacitly signaled that the attacks won’t have any effect on US readiness to conclude a nuclear deal with Iran, saying, Washington is concerned about the attacks but “imagine these Iranians with a nuclear weapon. We need to get that off the table so we can address their malign behavior in the Middle East… But first we’ve got to get this deal”.
“President Biden believes very strongly, as does secretary Blinken, as do I, that we need to get sure that Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon, and then we also need to deal with their malign behaver in the region, but first we’ve got to make sure that they cannot a nuclear weapon”.
The Biden administration has dismissed Moscow’s demand for exemptions from Ukraine sanctions, but some media outlets and politicians in Iran have been arguing that Russia has taken Iran’s nuclear deal hostage. They have accused their government of being subservient to Moscow to the extent of relinquishing the vital national interest in achieving an agreement with the West.
Critics of the Biden policy argue that once a nuclear deal is reached and Iran receives tens of billions of dollars in sanctions relief, it would have little incentive to negotiate over other issues, including its ballistic missile program and its aggressive regional policies.
The US ambassador to Iraq, Matthew Tueller, said the US condemns the “criminal attack on civilian targets in Irbil”, noting that "Iranian regime elements have claimed responsibility for this attack and must be held accountable for this flagrant violation of Iraqi sovereignty”.
The remark about “Iran regime elements” also minimizes the gravity of Iran’s act.
The IRGC that has accepted responsibility of the missile attack is not an element in a loose structure. It is Iran’s main military force, and its officers also occupy the top positions in the regular army. The commander in chief of both the IRGC and the army is Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and any decision to launch a missile strike cannot be taken without his approval.
Some US lawmakers and former officials reacted differently to Iran’s action. Several people urged Biden to stop the nuclear talks, and not sign an agreement partly engineered by Russia.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi has condemned the ballistic missile attack claimed by Iran targeting the US Consulate's new building in Erbil.
In a tweet a few hours after the attack, al-Kadhimi said, “The aggression which targeted the dear city of Erbil and spread fear amongst its inhabitants is an attack on the security of our people”.
He added that he discussed these developments with Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, noting that “Our security forces will investigate and stand firm against any threats towards our people”.
Calling on people to keep calm, Barzani said, “Erbil will stand strong against the cowardly attacks”.
Influential Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr also denounced the attack, saying, "Erbil is in the crosshairs and fire of the coward and losers”.
Slamming the attack, leftist Iraqi-Kurdish political party the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) said such an attack “is a clear indicator of attempts to ruin stability in the Kurdistan Region.”
The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) also strongly condemned the “heinous missile attack”, saying, “Perpetrators of this cowardly attack must be held to account”.
“Iraqis are called upon to stand together in the face of any act that violates Iraq’s sovereignty/territorial integrity, and/or aims to undermine stability/unity”, it said.
Several hours after a dozen ballistic missiles struck Erbil, Iran's Revolutionary Guards took responsibility for it, saying they targeted Israeli "strategic centers”.
Iran has suspended the fifth round of talks with regional rival Saudi Arabia, a website affiliated to Iran's top security council reported on Sunday.
Nour News, which is close to the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), Ali Shamkhani, on Sunday broke the news of the “temporary suspension” of the fifth round of negotiations.
"Iran has unilaterally suspended talks with Saudi Arabia," the report said, without providing a reason. The announcement was unexpected as Iran had been publicly more enthusiastic about the talks than Saudi Arabia.
The report said no specific date had been scheduled for a new round of talks. Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein announced on the sidelines of the Antalya Conference on Saturday that the fifth round of talks would be held in Baghdad on Wednesday
The news comes a day after Saudi Arabia carried out mass executions of 81 men that activists said included 41 Shiite Muslims.
Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran, which are locked in proxy conflicts around the region, launched direct talks hosted by Iraq last year at a time when global powers were trying to salvage the 2015 nuclear pact with Tehran, and as UN-led efforts to end a war in Yemen stalled.
Riyadh cut ties with Iran in 2016 when mobs attacked its embassy in Tehran after Riyadh executed 47 dissidents including the leading Shi'ite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. An Iranian lawmaker had said in January that Tehran and Riyadh were getting ready to reopen their embassies.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) has released a statement taking responsibility for the ballistic missile attack on Iraq's Kurdish regional capital of Erbil.
The Sunday statement coming hours after the attack said Israeli "strategic centers" were targeted “last night with precision-guided missiles” of the IRGC, while the apparent target was the US consulate in the city.
It stressed that the Iranian armed forces are a “red line” and “no one will be allowed to threaten or attack them”.
"Any repetition of attacks by Israel will be met with a harsh, decisive and destructive response," the statement added, noting the IRGC had vowed it would not “leave Israel’s crimes and evils unanswered”.
On Monday, the IRGC had vowed to avenge the death of two of its officers in an Israeli air strike near the Syrian capital Damascus.
The IRGC statement said Col. Ehsan Karbalaipur and Morteza Saeednejad “were martyred” on the outskirts of Damascus by an Israeli missile attack. “Without a doubt the Zionist regime will pay for this crime.”
Iran has entrenched itself in Syria after a decade of military involvement is support of Bashar al-Assad’s government and Israel often strikes Iranian military targets it deems a threat.
A dozen ballistic missiles struck Erbil at 1 am on Sunday, targeting the US consulate's new building and the neighboring residential area but caused only material damage and one civilian was injured, the Kurdish interior ministry said.
Lawmakers and former American officials have reacted to an Iranian ballistic missile attack on the US consulate in Iraq’s Erbil urging an end to Iran nuclear talks.
In a major escalation of tensions in the Middle East, a dozen ballistic missiles struck Erbil at 1 am on Sunday, targeting the US consulate's new building and the neighboring residential area but caused only material damage and one civilian was injured, the Kurdish interior ministry said on Sunday.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards released on Sunday a statement taking responsibility for missile attacks against Israeli "strategic centers" in Iraq's northern Kurdish regional capital of Erbil
Democratic representative Elaine Luria said in a tweet hours after the attack that she is continuing to monitor the situation, stating that “if reports are accurate, the Biden Administration must withdraw its negotiations with Iran”.
“We cannot re-enter a failed JCPOA to further empower Iran and threaten global security”, the Navy veteran added.
Republican Congresswoman Lisa McClain said, “This aggression shows we should absolutely end all Iran Nuclear Deal negotiations now. We must also never buy Iranian oil”.
Congressman Ritchie Torres twitted, “Iran attacks a US consulate while seeking US sanctions relief? No Bueno”.
Senior Adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies Richard Goldberg urged Biden to convene an emergency meeting of the National Security Council “to assess available intelligence & consider a full range of military, cyber, economic & political responses, noting, “The Russian-brokered Iran Deal on the table in Vienna includes lifting terrorism sanctions on Iran’s central bank, oil company, tanker company, petrochemical company & many more alongside removing the IRGC from the FTO list. Tonight should be a death knell for this horrible deal”.
“No country can be allowed to launch missile attacks against US interests without facing an immediate and meaningful response. There are a range of options. Deterrence must be restored. This isn’t partisan. If the President acts, he should get bipartisan support”, he added.
Gabriel Noronha, a former official at Iran desk in the State Department said, “Democrats and Republicans in Congress agree: Biden must not continue talks with Iran while they attack our bases in Iraq”.
Another official of the former US administration Robert Greenway, who was part of the negotiating team for the Abraham Accords, said, “Is it too much to ask Iran cease threatening US citizens to continue negotiations or enjoy any benefits of a deal? Or that we consider a regime so committed to killing more Americans unworthy of our trust negating the viability of any deal?”
Andrew Lewis Peek, who was a strategic advisor to the NATO commander in Afghanistan, said in a tweet, “Tonight’s missile attack in Iraq is 100% representative of a breakdown of deterrence against Iran not just under Biden, but under years of US policy in Iraq”.
Former research fellow at the Washington Institute Nadav Pollak has reacted to a video shared by advisor to Iran's nuclear negotiating team Mohammad Marandi, who gloated, “This is just the beginning”.
Pollak said, “The fact that Iran is doing this while talks are still being held in Vienna says something about how they perceive the EU and US resolve to contain them”.
A State Department spokesperson told Axios that the incident "is being investigated by the government of Iraq and the Kurdish Regional Government."
