Fire burns near Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan after Iranian missile strikes, January 15, 2024 (Rudaw)

Pakistan Retaliates v. Tehran With Strikes on Southeast Iran

UPDATE, JAN 20:

A Dutch infant, less than one year old, was among the civilians killed in Monday’s Iranian missile strikes on Iraqi Kurdistan.

On Friday, the Netherlands Government summoned the Iranian Ambassador over the killing.

In a phone call with his Dutch counterpart Hanke Bruins Slot later in the day, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian insisted the missile assault was “conducted on the grounds of legitimate defense and in line with international law”. He maintained that Iran was trying to “deal effectively” with “terrorism”.

He dismissed the killing of the Dutch infant, “We do not have any evidence proving that a child was killed in the Mossad terrorist headquarters in northern Iraq, but we draw the attention of the Dutch government to the genocide and massacre of thousands of Palestinian women and children in Gaza.”

UPDATE, JAN 17:

A day after its strikes in Iraqi Kurdistan, Iran has fired missiles and drones into Pakistan.

Two children were killed and three others injured, according to the Pakistani Foreign Ministry, which summoned Tehran’s envoy in Islamabad to protest against the “unprovoked violation of its airspace”.

Pakistani social media accounts said the attacks were on the Balochistan Province along the Pakistan-Iran border.

Iranian outlets initially claimed that the strikes were on bases of Jaish al-Adl, which has carried out insurgent attacks for years in Sistan and Baluchestan Province in southeast Iran.

However, the articles soon disappeared. Instead, Iran State English-language outlet Press TV is headlining, “Iranian, Pakistani forces hold joint naval exercise in Strait of Hormuz, Persian Gulf”.

Tasnim has not removed its “exclusive” boasting that “significant bases” of Jaish al-Udl were struck. However, it features a meeting between Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and Pakistan Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar: “Iran Urges Implementation of Anti-Terror Deal with Pakistan”.

Earlier on Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Ministry Nasser Kan’ani referred to Tehran’s strikes inside Iraqi Kurdistan and Syria:

The Islamic Republic has always supported peace, stability, and security in the region and respected other countries’ sovereignty, nonetheless, Tehran will not hesitate to exercise its legitimate and legal right to deter all sources of threats against its national security, defend its citizens and punish the criminals.

ORIGINAL ENTRY, JAN 16: Iran has fired missiles near Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan, killing a multi-millionaire businessman.

Peshraw Dizayee and members of his family were slain when at least one missile crashed into their home late Monday. At least four people were slain and six injured in the “crime”, according to the Kurdistan Regional Government’s security council.

Dizayee was close to the region’s ruling elite, owning businesses that pursued major real estate projects in Kurdistan.

Security sources said a missile fell on the house of a senior Kurdish intelligence official and another on a Kurdish intelligence center..

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards proclaimed without evidence that they had attacked the “espionage headquarters” of Israel, 40 km (25 miles) northeast of Erbil in northern Iraq. The Iranian force also said it hit Islamic State targets in Syria.

Ballistic missiles were used to destroy espionage centers and gatherings of anti-Iranian terrorist groups in the region late tonight.

The attacks came almost three weeks after Israel assassinated Iran’s senior commander in Syria, Sayyed Razi Mousavi, and 10 days after ISIS killed 91 people in a double bombing in Kerman in south-central Iran.

Monday’s operation echoes missile strikes in March 2022 on the villa of a Kurdish businessman involved in Iraqi Kurdistan’s energy sector, Baz Karim Barzanji.

Iran also claimed then that an Israel spy network was targeted. However, Turkey, Iraqi, and US officials said the Iranians were try8ing to disrupt a Kurdish-Israeli plan to supply gas to Turkey and Europe.

See also Iran’s Missile Attacks on Northern Iraq Targeted Kurdish-Israel Gas Deal — Officials

The US Consulate was in the area of last night’s strikes, but no American facilities were affected, said two US officials.

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the “reckless attacks…undermine Iraq’s stability”: “We support the government of Iraq and the Kurdistan regional government’s efforts to meet the aspirations of the Iraqi people.”