(OPINION) Iranian news outlets are connecting the missile barrage launched from Iran at the American consulate in Iraq are saying that the compound hosted Mossad offices.
Up to 12 missiles hit an area adjacent to the consulate complex in the northern Iraqi city in a strike that both a U.S. defense official and an Iraqi official said was launched from Iranian territory.
No injuries were reported in the attack, which represented a dramatic escalation between Washington and Iran as the latest nuclear talks took place in Vienna. Tensions between the enemy countries have often played out in Iraq, whose government is allied with both nations.
But in what may be an attempt to save face, Iran is now claiming that the American Consulate was also hosting a secret Israeli intelligence headquarters, which was the objective of the attack.
The attack drew harsh condemnation from the Iraqi government, which called it a “violation of international law and norms” and demanded an explanation from the Iranian leadership. Iraq’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmad al-Sahhaf told The Associated Press that the ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador, Iraj Masjedi, to deliver the diplomatic protest.
The United States said the missile strike emanated from Iran and strongly condemned it. “The strikes were an outrageous violation of Iraq’s sovereignty. No U.S. facilities were damaged or personnel injured, and we have no indications the attack was directed at the United States,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters in Washington.
Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard said on its website that it attacked what it described as an Israeli spy center in Irbil. It did not elaborate, but in a statement said Israel had been on the offensive, citing the recent strike that killed two members of the Revolutionary Guard. The semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted an unnamed source as saying Iran fired 10 Fateh missiles, including several Fateh-110 missiles, which have a range of about 300 kilometers (186 miles).
