An Iranian missile strike on targets in northern Iraq set off an unusual dispute between the neighbouring allies on Tuesday, with Baghdad recalling its ambassador in protest and Tehran insisting the attack was intended to deter threats from Israeli spies.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards hit what they called an Israeli espionage centre in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, Iranian media reported late on Monday, while the elite force said they also struck in Syria against the Islamic State.
The strike appeared likely to deepen worries about worsening instability across the Middle East since the war between Israel and Hamas started on Oct. 7, with Iran's allies also entering the fray from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
There has also been concern that Iraq could again become a theatre for regional conflict after a series of U.S. strikes on Iran-linked militant groups that are also part of Iraq's formal security forces. Those strikes came in response to dozens of attacks on U.S. forces in the region carried out since Oct. 7.
The Guards said the late Monday attack, Iran's first direct military strike in the region linked to the Gaza war, was in response to Israeli 'atrocities" against several of its commanders and those of Iranian-allied forces around the Middle East since the conflict started.
Iraq National Security Adviser Qasim al-Araji condemned the strike as an infringement of sovereignty.
"We are very astonished by what happened because the Iraqi government was not informed," he said.
In protest against the strike, Iraq recalled its envoy from Tehran and summoned Iran's charge d'affaires in Baghdad, with the foreign ministry saying Baghdad would take all legal steps against what it called a violation of sovereignty.
The strike, on a residential area near the U.S. consulate in Kurdistan's capital Erbil, was described by Iraqi Kurdish Prime Minister Masrour Barzani as a "crime against the Kurdish people" in which at least four civilians were killed and six injured.
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