A missile barrage went off close to a U.S. consulate complex in Irbil, Iraq, with Iran later taking responsibility for the incident.
The Associated Press reports that Iran said the attack was retaliation for an Israeli strike that happened near Damascus, Syria, which led to the deaths of two members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
No one died at the U.S. consulate building, which is new and not occupied at the moment. The Revolutionary Guard claimed on its website that the attack was aimed at an Israeli “strategic center of conspiracy” in the Iraqi city.
At first, it was unclear exactly what happened, with an Iraqi official saying that the consulate had been hit by several missiles and that it was the target. More information came from Lawk Ghafari, the head of Kurdistan’s foreign media office, who said the areas surrounding the compound were struck.
A U.S. official also chimed in, saying that they didn’t know how many missiles Iran fired. Another U.S. official said that the U.S. denounced the “outrageous attack against Iraqi sovereignty and display of violence.”
The attack is a nod to rising tensions between the U.S. and Iran, with strikes between the two often taking place in Iraq—an ally of both countries. In 2020, hostilities between U.S. and Iran escalated when a U.S. drone strike killed an Iranian general. A subsequent missile attack from Iran led to at least 34 troops suffering from traumatic brain injuries.
