US National Security Adviser: We are consulting with Baghdad and Erbil to secure missile defenses.
The United States condemned the attack on Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan region of Iraq, describing it as a criminal attack on civilian targets, considering that elements of the Iranian regime were responsible for this act.
The US ambassador to Iraq, Matthew Tueller, said that Tehran must be held accountable for this flagrant violation of Iraqi sovereignty and terrorist attacks on the property of innocent civilians.
Respect for the sovereignty of Iraq
The US State Department also condemned the terrorist attack, declaring that the strikes that targeted Erbil are a "blatant violation" of Iraq's sovereignty.
"No American facilities were damaged, and there were no casualties among the personnel in the attack on Erbil," it said in a statement.
She also added, "Iran must immediately stop its attacks, respect Iraq's sovereignty, and stop its interference in its internal affairs".
In turn, the US National Security Adviser, Jack Sullivan, strongly condemned Iran's missile attack on Erbil, and said, "We are consulting with Baghdad and Erbil to secure missile defenses".
Threatens the stability of the region
In turn, Paris condemned "with the greatest firmness" the firing of missiles at Erbil, noting that the attack threatens the stability of the entire region.
The French Foreign Ministry also said in a statement that the attack "threatens the stability of Iraq and the region." The ministry stressed its commitment to "the sovereignty and stability of Iraq and the stability of the autonomous region of Kurdistan within it".
The statement also added that "such actions undermine efforts to allow a return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (the nuclear deal), to which Iran also contributes".
"There is an urgent need to end the negotiations that started about a year ago and put an end to such irresponsible and dangerous behaviour," he added.
And the authorities of the Kurdistan region of Iraq announced that "12 ballistic missiles" were fired from "outside the borders of Iraq, specifically from the east" at the US Consulate in Erbil on Sunday, without causing any casualties.
The attack came as negotiations to revive the Iran nuclear deal signed in 2015 in Vienna were suddenly suspended after new demands from Moscow.
It is noteworthy that negotiators in the Austrian capital had recently reached the final stages of talks aimed at returning to the nuclear agreement, which provides for lifting sanctions on Tehran in return for imposing restrictions on its nuclear program, which the West has long viewed as a cover for developing atomic bombs.
Lavrov's sudden demands
But last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov unexpectedly demanded comprehensive guarantees that Russia's trade with Tehran would not be affected by sanctions imposed on Moscow over its military operation in Ukraine, derailing the talks that began in April last year.
Those 11-month international talks seek to return the Iranian authorities to comply with the agreement's restrictions on its rapidly advancing nuclear activities, as well as return the United States to the agreement it withdrew from in 2018 during the era of former President Donald Trump.
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- Agencies