Jennifer Gavito, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Iran, Iraq, and Public Diplomacy, speaking to Rudaw on October 25, 2022. Photo: Screenshot/Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Washington is “deeply concerned” about Iranian recent attacks in the Kurdistan Region and calls on Tehran to respect the sovereignty of Iraq, a top US official said on Tuesday.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) fired a barrage of missiles and drones on September 28, targeting locations deep inside the Kurdistan Region, killing at least 16 people including a pregnant woman and her baby.
“We are deeply concerned about Iranian threats to the Kurdistan Region, in particular the activities of Iran-aligned militia groups and Iran itself as Iraqi sovereignty is a priority. The Iraqi people have spoken. They want the sovereignty respected. And we call on Iran and all actors to play their role in respecting them,” Jennifer Gavito, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Iran, Iraq, and Public Diplomacy, told Rudaw’s Diyar Kurda on Tuesday.
Following the IRGC attacks, the US Central Command said its forces had intercepted an Iranian drone launched towards Erbil without causing any casualties.
Iran has warned that it would not tolerate the continued presence of armed opposition groups in the neighboring Kurdistan Region, adding that it would respond to any US action against Iranian drones.
Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani, Iraq's prime minister-designate, is in the process of forming a cabinet. Gavito called on him to form a government that “puts the needs of Iraqis people and sovereignty of the Iraqi state at the forefront of its agenda.”
The IRGC has vowed to continue targeting the bases of Kurdish opposition and never cease striking “until all bases are dismantled.”
The Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), Komala, Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK), and Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK) all have forces inside Iranian cities. Iranian authorities have been in a state of panic since the opposition based in the Kurdistan Region called for a general strike across the Kurdish areas of western Iran on September 19, setting off the recent wave of unrest in the country.
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