File photo of Erbil
Washington/Erbil: The United States strongly condemned the missile strikes on Iraq’s northern Kurdish regional capital of Erbil last night that emanated from Iran.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in a statement released on Sunday said it targeted the Israeli “strategic centre” in the country, according to Iran’s state media.
Reports suggest that the missiles targeted the U.S. consulate among other sites. A Kurdish regional government spokesperson stated today that several missiles hit different areas of Erbil in the early hours of Sunday, March 13, 2022.
“We condemn this terrorist attack and assure our citizens that no terrorist attempt can jeopardize our region or the peace and security of our people,” he said.
The Presidency of the Council of Ministers of the Kurdistan Region claimed today that “the cowardly” attack on Erbil on March 13, 2022, allegedly under the pretext of hitting an Israeli base near the US Consulate in Erbil, targeted civilian locations and its justification is only to hide the disgracefulness of such offence. “We reiterate that the propaganda of the perpetrators of this attack is far from true,” it stated.
It stated that Iran had repeated these attacks many times, and the silence of the international community in the face of these cowardly attacks will pave the way for their continuation. “We call on the United Nations, the United States, the European Union, the Arab League, the federal government, the Iraqi parliament, and the Iranian government to urgently investigate these baseless attacks, visit targeted locations, reveal the facts to the public, and take a true and strong stance on these attacks,” the Presidency said.
The USA today termed the strikes as an outrageous violation of Iraq’s sovereignty. The US State Department spokesperson Ned Price claimed that no US facilities were damaged or personnel injured, and there were no indications the attack was directed at the United States.
“Iran must immediately cease its attacks, respect Iraqi sovereignty, and halt its interference in Iraq’s internal affairs. The United States stands with our Iraqi partners, including in the Kurdistan Region, and will help our partners in the region defend themselves,” Price said.
The missile attack comes as talks to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in Vienna are at a critical juncture and might fail. On March 11, 2022, after High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell Fontelles, stated that a pause in Vienna Talks was needed, due to “external factors”, Iran claimed external factor will not affect their “joint will to go forward for a collective agreement”.
The “external factor” was Russia which demanded that Washington should guarantee that if the nuclear deal is restored, western sanctions on Russia over Ukraine will not in any way damage Russia’s right to free and full trade, economic and investment cooperation and military-technical cooperation with Iran.
– global bihari bureau
