Sep. 29 (EUROPA PRESS) –
A US citizen was killed in missile and drone strikes by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards against Iraqi Kurdistan on Wednesday, US State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said.
Patel has not offered more details about the US citizen, alleging privacy issues, and has not offered information on what the response will be to Wednesday’s attacks, which left at least thirteen dead and about 60 injured, as reported by the American network .
The Anti-Terrorist Foundation in the Iraqi Kurdistan region detailed that more than 70 ‘Fateh’ ballistic missiles and drones were launched from inside Iranian territory towards the semi-autonomous Iraqi region, all in four stages.
According to information collected by the Kurdish television channel Rudaw, the attacks reached the headquarters of the Party for the Freedom of Kurdistan (PAK), the Democratic Party of Kurdistan of Iran (PDKI), the Party for a Free Life for Kurdistan (PJAK ) and Komala in Suleimani and Erbil provinces.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Wednesday showed his support for Iraq’s leaders in the region and condemned the attacks on Iraqi Kurdistan as “an assault on the sovereignty of Iraq and its people.”
“Iranian leaders continue to show blatant disregard not only for the lives of their own people, but also those of their neighbors and the fundamental principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity enshrined in the UN Charter,” he said.
In this regard, he explained that the Iranian side uses these attacks to divert attention from its internal problems. “Its provision of drones to Russia for its war of aggression in Ukraine and to its proxies throughout the Middle East region must be universally condemned,” he stressed.
The PDKI claims the creation of a Kurdish entity in Iran, something that the Islamic Republic has refused. PDKI and Revolutionary Guard fighters clashed in 2015 in northern Iran, leaving several dead and wounded on both sides.
Iran has about seven million Kurds, which represents about ten percent of its population. Most live in the Kurdistan region, located in the northwest of the country, near the border with Iraq.
