SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The United States is ready to work with its Iraqi and Kurdish partners to hold Iran accountable for a missile attack that targeted Erbil city early on Sunday, the State Department told Esta Media Network on Monday.
As many as 12 missiles launched by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards struck Erbil city in the early hours on Sunday.
Kurdish officials said the attack hit a residential area and that a man was slightly wounded.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said it would respond to any attack carried out by Israel against its troops after it claimed responsibility for the missile attack.
“Any repetition of attacks by Israel will be met with a harsh, decisive and destructive response,” it said in a statement reported by state media, according to Reuters.
An Israeli air strike in Syria on Monday killed two members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Iranian state media said last week. The IRGC vowed to retaliate, it said.
“The US was not the intended target; press speculation otherwise is simply wrong,” a U.S. State Department spokesperson told Esta Media Network on Monday.
“That does not obviate the reality – this was an outrageous attack by Iran on its neighbor,” the spokesperson said.
“In this case, most if not all of the missiles were directed at a private Iraqi Kurdish citizen’s residential compound. The attack by the IRGC – whatever the pretext – was an attack on Iraq’s sovereignty and on a civilian target.”
The U.S. stands with its Iraqi and Kurdish partners in the face of “this terrible assault on Iraq”, the state department’s spokesperson added.
“We are ready to work with our Iraqi and Kurdish partners and others in the region to hold Iran accountable.”
Iraq and neighboring Syria are regularly the scene of violence between the United States and Iran. Iran-backed Shia militias have attacked U.S. forces in both countries and Washington has on occasion retaliated with air strikes.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Council of Ministers called on the international community including the Iranian government to investigate the missile attack and visit the location targeted by the missiles.
“The cowardly attack on Erbil … 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 offense,” presidency of the KRG Council of Ministers said in a statement.
“We reiterate that the propaganda of the perpetrators of this attack is far from true.
“Iran has 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,” it added.
“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.”
Earlier, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi arrived in Erbil to discuss the attack with Kurdish officials.
