Government escalates response to Iranian attack in Erbil

The Iraqi government has responded to the Iranian attack in Erbil with an unprecedented degree of condemnation. Iraq has now escalated the matter to the UN Security Council.

The IRGC ballistic missile attack in Erbil that led to the deaths of four civilians, including prominent Kurdish businessman Peshraw Dezaei, has elicited an unusually strong reaction from the Sudani government.

Sudani ordered a committee headed by the National Security Advisor Qasim Al-Araji to investigate the attack. Speaking from Erbil, Araji categorically rejected claims by Iran that the building belonging to Dezaei was a Mossad base, insisting that the investigation showed that it was a family residence.

The attack mirrors the March 2022 targeting of another prominent Kurdish businessman’s residence in Erbil by Iran, which did not result in any casualties because the building was unoccupied.

Araji also noted that Iraq had signed a security agreement with Iran to coordinate against common threats, and that the bilateral security committee had met last week, adding that Iran had not given any advance notice of Tuesday’s attack.

A statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced what it described as “Iranian aggression” and “a blatant assault on Iraq’s sovereignty”. The ministry said it was “gathering information to enhance Iraq’s legal stance internationally” and that the investigation would seek to dispel “falsehoods propagated by the parties responsible for these reprehensible actions”.