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At least five civilians, including two children, were killed in Iranian ballistic missile attacks in the Iraqi Kurdish region and northern Syria on Monday night.
Iraq's Foreign Ministry denounced the attack as “aggression against the sovereignty of Iraq and the security of the Iraqi people and harming good-neighbourly relations and the security of the region”.
The Iraqi government will take all legal measures against these actions, including filing a complaint at the United Nations Security Council, it added.
A view of a damaged building following missile attacks, in Erbil, Iraq, January 16. Reuters
Iraq has also summoned the Iranian chargé d'affaires in Baghdad to protest against the attacks, the Foreign Ministry said in another statement. The Ministry has also summoned the Iraqi ambassador in Tehran for discussions.
The father of the children, aged 11 months and 18 months old, was believed to be prominent Kurdish businessman Peshraw Dizayee, who was also killed.
They were among the victims of an attack on Erbil, the Kurdish capital in northern Iraq, local Kurdish media reported.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed responsibility for the attacks on Erbil and northern Syria.
Targets in Erbil were reported to include a base hosting US military personnel and a “Mossad headquarters”, while the IRGC said it was aiming for ISIS and other militant groups in Syria, according to comments carried by state media.
At least a dozen other people were wounded in the Erbil attack, which Kurdish politicians have described as an “unjustified attack on a civilian home”.
On Tuesday morning, local media reported that civil defence teams are still working to rescue a woman from under the rubble, while “heavy damage” was reported on the road connecting Erbil and the town of Pirmam.
Iran's Irna state news outlet alleged that Mr Dizayee had “close ties” to Mossad. The news outlet provided no evidence for the claim.
No US bases were affected by the missile strikes in Erbil and there were no American casualties, US officials have confirmed.
The claimed attack on the “Mossad headquarters” was retaliation for attacks on IRGC leaders, the Iranian armed forces unit said.
Late last month, a senior IRGC commander was killed in a reported Israeli strike in the Syrian capital of Damascus.
“This headquarters was responsible for planning and running espionage operations and terrorist activities in the region, mainly our beloved country,” it said.
Iran has previously carried out strikes in Iraq's northern Kurdistan region, saying the area is used as a staging ground for Iranian separatist groups, as well as agents of its arch enemy, Israel.
Erbil has also been repeatedly struck by Iran-backed militias in recent years, with militants attacking coalition troops based at the international airport.
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Flights are not affected by the attacks, authorities confirmed on Tuesday morning.
The counter terrorism service of Iraq's Kurdish region condemned the attack as “a blatant violation to Iraqi sovereignty” and the region.
“The Federal Government and the international community must not remain silent regarding this crime.”
The IRGC said the attacks in Iraq's Kurdish region, which consists of three provinces, were aimed at destroying “spy headquarters” and “anti-Iranian terrorist groups in the region”.
Iran said the attacks were “in response to the recent terrorist crimes of the enemies of Islamic Iran, the spy headquarters and the gathering of anti-Iranian terrorist groups in parts of the region”.
Tehran also launched strikes in north-west Syria, claiming its targets were ISIS operatives, in response to recent terror attacks, including bombings near the tomb of Gen Qassem Suleimani, commander of the IRGC's Quds Force.
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“[ISIS] was targeted in headquarters of militant groups in Idlib in Syria in response to the group’s recent terrorist attacks in Iran,” Iranian news agencies said, quoting the IRGC.
On Tuesday, Iran said it had acted in defence of its sovereignty and security as well as to counter terrorism.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said Tehran respected the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other countries but at the same time was using its “legitimate and legal right to deter national security threats”.
“After the enemy miscalculated by targeting the Islamic Republic, Iran retaliated with its high intelligence capability in a precise and targeted operation against the culprits' headquarters,” Mr Kanaani added.
Two suicide bombers detonated their explosives as thousands of mourners gathered this month to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the death of Suleimani.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, which killed at least 91 people and about 300 others.
Irna said the strikes in Syria were in retaliation to this month's attack on a police station in Sistan and Balochistan province in the country's south-east that left 11 personnel killed and seven others wounded.
It was claimed by the hardline militant group Jaish Al Adl, or Army of Justice.
ISIS claims responsibility for deadly Iran bombing
Suleimani was killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad on January 3, 2020, amid a long-running, low-level conflict between pro-Tehran militias and the US.
American drones fired three missiles at his convoy as it left Baghdad Airport, killing him, Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi Al Muhandis and several aides.
The US said at the time that Suleimani was planning imminent action against US personnel in Iraq.
The assassination stoked fears of a direct military confrontation between the US and Iran.
There were rocket attacks on Iraqi military bases where US troops are stationed.
Five days after the killing, Iran fired missiles at a base in Iraq housing US troops and another near Erbil, wounding several US personnel.