{"id":1374276,"date":"2022-03-13T11:35:56","date_gmt":"2022-03-13T15:35:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1374276"},"modified":"2022-03-13T11:35:58","modified_gmt":"2022-03-13T15:35:58","slug":"iran-claims-responsibility-for-missile-strike-on-us-consulate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/iran-claims-responsibility-for-missile-strike-on-us-consulate\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran Claims Responsibility for Missile Strike on US Consulate"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Firan-claims-responsibility-for-missile-strike-on-us-consulate%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1374276&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p>By Amina Ismail<\/p>\n<p>ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters)\u2014<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Iran<\/span>\u2018s Revolutionary Guards claimed responsibility for a dozen ballistic missiles that struck Iraq&#8217;s northern Kurdish regional capital of Erbil in the early hours of Sunday,<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">\u00a0Iran<\/span>\u2018s state media reported, adding that the attack was against Israeli &#8220;strategic centres&#8221; in Erbil.<\/p>\n<p>The missiles targeted the U.S.<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">\u00a0consulate\u00a0<\/span>among other sites, according to the Kurdish regional government.<\/p>\n<p>The missile attack comes as talks to revive the 2015<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">\u00a0Iran\u00a0<\/span>nuclear deal face the prospect of collapse after a last-minute Russian demand forced world powers to pause negotiations for an undetermined time despite having a largely completed text.<\/p>\n<p>The missiles, which targeted the U.S.<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">\u00a0consulate<\/span>\u2018s new building and a neighbouring residential area, caused only material damage and one civilian was injured, the Kurdish interior ministry said. An Iraqi security official told Reuters that the missiles were manufactured in<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">\u00a0Iran<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Iran<\/span>\u2018s Revolutionary Guards released a statement taking responsibility for the missile attack against Israeli &#8220;strategic centres&#8221; in Erbil,<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">\u00a0Iran<\/span>\u2018s state media reported.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Any repetition of attacks by Israel will be met with a harsh, decisive and destructive response,&#8221; the Revolutionary Guard said in the statement.<\/p>\n<p>A U.S. official blamed<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">\u00a0Iran\u00a0<\/span>for the attack earlier on Sunday but did not give further details.<\/p>\n<p>A Kurdish spokesperson for the regional authorities said that Sunday&#8217;s attack only targeted civilian residential areas, not a foreign base and called on the international community to carry out an investigation.<\/p>\n<p>Separately, a U.S. State Department spokesperson called it an &#8220;outrageous attack&#8221; but said no Americans were hurt and there was no damage to U.S. government facilities in Erbil. U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Mathew H. Tueller condemned the attack and said &#8220;<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Iran<\/span>ian regime elements have claimed responsibility for this attack and must be held accountable.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>France&#8217;s foreign ministry said Sunday&#8217;s missile strike on Erbil threatened efforts to conclude nuclear talks with<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">\u00a0Iran<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. forces stationed at Erbil&#8217;s international airport complex have in the past come under fire from rocket and drone attacks that Washington blames on<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">\u00a0Iran<\/span>-aligned militia groups, but no such attacks have occurred for several months.<\/p>\n<p>Asked about Sunday&#8217;s attack, Israel&#8217;s military said it did not comment on reports in the foreign press and the prime minister&#8217;s office declined to comment.<\/p>\n<p>In another sign of increased regional tensions,<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">\u00a0Iran\u00a0<\/span>also suspended on Sunday a fifth round of talks with regional rival Saudi Arabia that were due to take place in Baghdad on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>The last time ballistic missiles were directed at U.S. forces was in January 2020 \u2013 an<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">\u00a0Iran<\/span>ian retaliation for the U.S. killing earlier that month of its military commander Qassem Soleimani at Baghdad airport.<\/p>\n<p>No U.S. personnel were killed in the 2020 attack but many suffered head injuries.<\/p>\n<p>Iraq and neighbouring Syria are regularly the scene of violence between the United States and<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">\u00a0Iran<\/span>.<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">\u00a0Iran<\/span>-backed Shi&#8217;ite Islamist militias have attacked U.S. forces in both countries and Washington has on occasion retaliated with air strikes.<\/p>\n<p>An Israeli air strike in Syria on Monday killed two members of<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">\u00a0Iran<\/span>\u2018s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC),<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">\u00a0Iran<\/span>ian state media said last week. The IRGC vowed to retaliate, it said. Israel has not confirmed it carried out the strike.<\/p>\n<p>Analysts say that Sunday&#8217;s attack was more of a retaliation against last week&#8217;s Israeli air strikes in Syria rather than an attack on the United States.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Iran\u00a0<\/span>had carried out attacks against American targets and did not shy away from publicizing this,&#8221; said Hamidreza Azizi, Visiting Fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I see this more as a warning sign to Israel and a show of force in the negotiations.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>A Kurdish spokesperson for the regional authorities said there were no flight interruptions at Erbil airport.<\/p>\n<p>Residents of Erbil posted videos online showing several large explosions, and some said the blasts shook their homes. Reuters could not independently verify those videos.<\/p>\n<p>Iraq has been rocked by chronic instability since the defeat of the Sunni Islamist group Islamic State in 2017 by a loose coalition of Iraqi, U.S.-led and<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">\u00a0Iran<\/span>-backed forces.<\/p>\n<p>Since then,<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">\u00a0Iran<\/span>-aligned militias have regularly attacked U.S. military and diplomatic sites in Iraq, U.S. and many Iraqi officials say.<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">\u00a0Iran\u00a0<\/span>denies involvement in those attacks.<\/p>\n<p>(Reporting by Iraq Bureau and Dubai Bureau; Additional reporting by Yasmin Hussein and Ahmed Tolba in Cairo and Phil Stewart in Washington, Ari Rabinovitch in Jerusalem; Writing by Amina Ismail in Erbil and John Davison in Baghdad; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky, Louise Heavens and Susan Fenton)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Amina Ismail ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters)\u2014Iran\u2018s Revolutionary Guards claimed responsibility for a dozen ballistic missiles that struck Iraq&#8217;s northern Kurdish regional capital of Erbil in the early hours of Sunday,\u00a0Iran\u2018s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1374276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1374276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1374276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1374276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1374276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1374276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1374276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}