Iranian media said that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard bombed – today, Monday – with missiles and drones the headquarters of Kurdish parties in the Koysanjaq district of Erbil in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
The Minister of Health in the region, Saman Barzanji, said that one person was killed and 10 others were wounded in an initial outcome of the Iranian bombing that targeted sites of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, which opposes Tehran.
The leading member of the Iranian opposition “Komala” party also stated that the party’s headquarters were bombed by drones in the Zarquiez area in Sulaymaniyah governorate, without causing any losses.
Commenting on the attacks, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said that it will not compromise on Iran’s border security, and will respond to threats from what it described as “separatist groups” in Iraqi Kurdistan.
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And she stressed that her response came after Baghdad and the Kurdistan region had not taken measures to confront the threats of Kurdish groups, blaming the Iraqi government for “preventing the destabilization of Iran’s security” from within its territory.
She added that the “Kurdish separatists” carried out operations against Iran, and that targeting their headquarters comes within the framework of Tehran’s right to self-defense.
On the other hand, the UN mission in Iraq condemned the Iranian attacks on Iraqi Kurdistan, considering them as a violation of Iraqi sovereignty.
She stressed that the common security concerns between Iraq and Iran must be resolved through dialogue.
The same position was expressed by the US ambassador in Baghdad, where she condemned the attacks and called on Tehran to stop them, stressing that they are attacks that violate Iraq’s sovereignty.
The Iranian Fars News Agency stated that the Iranian attacks are only the “first stage” of an Iranian military attack against the sites of “terrorist” groups in northern Iraq.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Ground Relations Department had announced – earlier – the launch of operations against “terrorist” sites in northern Iraq, and said, “This operation will continue decisively until the threat is effectively repelled and the strongholds of terrorist groups are dismantled.”