A US citizen was among 13 people killed in Iraq in a rocket attack carried out by Iran on Wednesday, the Department of State confirmed Thursday.
Another 58 people were wounded after Iran fired missiles and drones at militant targets in the Kurdistan region of the neighboring Middle-Eastern country Wednesday, Iraq’s state news agency said, citing its counter-terrorism service.
More information about the American victim was not provided due to “privacy considerations,” said State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel during a press briefing.
Iraqi Kurdish sources said the drone strikes went after at least 10 bases of Iranian Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan.
The US Army Central Command said it shot down one Iranian drone while they were traveling in the area because it posed a threat to American officials in the region.
“No US forces were wounded or killed as a result of the strikes and there is no damage to U.S. equipment,” it said in a statement Wednesday.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said it would continue to zero in on what they described as terrorist sites in the region.
“This operation will continue with our full determination until the threat is effectively repelled, terrorist group bases are dismantled, and the authorities of the Kurdish region assume their obligations and responsibilities,” the Guards said in a statement read on state television.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned Iran’s actions as an “unjustified violation of Iraqi sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
“Moreover, we further condemn comments from the government of Iran threatening additional attacks against Iraq,” Blinken added. “We stand with the people and government of Iraq in the face of these brazen attacks on their sovereignty.”
Iraq also blasted Iran’s violence and considered it a violation of sovereignty.
Iran has faced sustained demonstrations over the death of a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman who died after she was taken into custody by the country’s morality police for inappropriate attire earlier this month.
With Post wires
