Iran has claimed responsibility for a missile barrage launched early Sunday near a huge US consulate complex in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil, claiming it was in retribution for an Israeli strike in Syria that killed two members of its Revolutionary Guard.
There were no injuries reported in the incident, which signalled a significant escalation between the United States and Iran. The long-standing rivalry has frequently manifested itself in Iraq, whose government is allied with both countries.
On its website, Iran’s strong Revolutionary Guard claimed responsibility for the strike on an Israeli “strategic centre of conspiracy” in Irbil. It did not go into detail but stated in a statement that Israel has been on the offensive, highlighting a recent strike that killed two Revolutionary Guards.
Earlier, a US defence official and Iraqi security authorities stated the strike was fired from Iran’s neighbouring country.
According to one Iraqi official in Baghdad, multiple missiles were fired at the US consulate in Irbil, which was the intended target of the strike. Later, Lawk Ghafari, the head of Kurdistan’s international media office, reported that none of the missiles had reached the US facility, but that regions near it had been hit. The missiles were launched from outside Iraq, from the east, according to a statement published by the interior ministry of Iraq’s Kurdistan region, without naming Iran.
The number of missiles fired and where they landed are still unknown, according to a US defence official. There was no damage to any US government property, according to a second US official, and there was no evidence the objective was the consulate building, which is new and now unoccupied.
The Iraqi official and the US official were not authorised to speak to the media about the incident, so they spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.
Shortly after the attack, satellite broadcast channel Kurdistan24, which is based near the US consulate, went live from their studio, displaying shattered glass and debris on the studio floor.
The attack came just a few days after Iran claimed it would retaliate for an Israeli strike near Damascus, Syria, that killed two Revolutionary Guard members. The strikes in Irbil were acknowledged by Iraqi media on Sunday, according to Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency, without specifying whence they originated.
The missile barrage occurred at a time when regional tensions were high. Negotiations in Vienna over Iran’s shattered nuclear deal have been put on hold due to Russian demands for penalties targeting Moscow for its conflict in Ukraine. Meanwhile, Iran halted its covert Baghdad-brokered discussions aimed at defusing years of tensions with regional competitor Saudi Arabia, after Saudi Arabia carried out its largest recorded mass execution in modern history, killing over 300 Shiites.
The Irbil incident, which occurred after midnight and inflicted material damage in the vicinity, resulted in no injuries, according to Iraqi security officials. In accordance with norms, they talked on the condition of anonymity.
Without elaborating, one Iraqi official stated that the ballistic missiles were launched from Iran. He claimed the rockets were Iranian-made Fateh-110s, which were most likely shot in reprisal for the deaths of two Revolutionary Guardsmen in Syria.
