US slams Tehran for attacks in Iraq, vows to disrupt Iran’s destabilizing behavior

Al-Arabia – The US on Wednesday slammed Iran’s drone and ballistic missile attacks inside Iraq with the White House vowing to disrupt Tehran’s destabilizing behavior in the region.

Calling attacks on Iraq’s Kurdistan region “an unjustified violation of Iraqi sovereignty and territorial integrity,” State Department Spokesman Ned Price also hit out at the Iranian government over its threats to carry out more attacks in Iraq.

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National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the White House stands with Iraq’s leaders in the Kurdistan region and Baghdad in condemning the attacks as an assault on the sovereignty of Iraq and its people.

“[Iran’s] flagrant use of missiles and drones against its neighbors, as well as its providing of drones to Russia for its war of aggression in Ukraine and to proxies throughout the Middle East region, should be universally condemned,” he said.

Sullivan vowed the US would continue to pursue sanctions “and other means” to disrupt Iran’s destabilizing activities across the Middle East.

“Iran cannot deflect blame from its internal problems and the legitimate grievances of its population with attacks across its borders,” Sullivan said in an apparent reference to the nationwide anti-government protests in the aftermath of the killing of Mahsa Amini.

The US comments came after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed missile and drone attacks at what they called militant targets in northern Iraq. Civilian casualties were reported.

Iraq’s foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement that the ministry would summon the Iranian ambassador to inform him of Iraq’s objection to the attacks on Iraqi territories and that Iraq considers this action as a violation of sovereignty.