On Wednesday, US forces shot down an Iranian drone that officials said appeared poised to attack US troops in Iraq.
The attack came as the Iranian military launched a campaign of drone bombings targeting the bases of an Iranian-Kurdish opposition group in northern Iraq, attacks that killed at least nine people and injured 32 others, according to the health ministry of the Kurdish regional government.
The bombings follow protests by Iraqi and Iranian Kurds in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil over the death of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Kurdish woman who died in custody of the so-called Iranian morality police.
“US Central Command condemns the unprovoked attack by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Erbil Governorate, Iraq this morning. Such indiscriminate attacks threaten innocent civilians and jeopardize the region’s hard-won stability,” command spokesman Joe Buccino said in a statement.
Amid the bombing campaign, US forces at 2:10 p.m. local time shot down an Iranian Mojer-6 unmanned aerial vehicle ‘heading towards Erbil as it appeared to pose a threat to CENTCOM forces in the area’ , according to Buccino.
He noted that no US forces were injured or killed, that no US equipment was damaged as a result of the strikes, and that Central Command forces are assessing the situation.
US and coalition troops are based in Iraq to advise and assist its military in countering IS militants and preventing the terror group from re-emerging in the region.
The US government has condemned the strikes, with National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan saying Wednesday that Washington stands “with Iraqi leaders in the Kurdistan region and Baghdad in condemning these attacks as an attack on Iraq’s sovereignty. and its people”.
“Iranian leaders continue to show blatant disregard not only for the lives of their own people, but also for those of their neighbors and the fundamental principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations,” Sullivan said. “Iran cannot deflect blame from its internal problems and the legitimate grievances of its people with attacks across its borders.”
The Iraqi Foreign Ministry and the Kurdistan Regional Government also condemned the attacks.