Iranian attack on Erbil villa alleged to be in response to gas talks involving Israel

An Iranian missile attack on Erbil earlier this month was in part due to Tehran’s anger over talks about Iraq’s Kurdistan region possibly supplying gas to Turkey and Europe that also involve Israel, Turkish and Iraqi officials are alleging.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has claimed the missiles targeted an Israeli “strategic center” in Erbil. It also said it was a response to an alleged Israeli airstrike in Syria that killed two IRGC guards.

The villa targeted in the attack belongs to a Kurdish oil tycoon, who has denied his home — which reportedly hosted the talks — was a Mossad base.

“There had been two recent meetings between Israeli and US energy officials and specialists at the villa to discuss shipping Kurdistan gas to Turkey via a new pipeline,” an Iraqi security official tells Reuters.

The news agency says two unnamed Turkish officials confirmed recent talks involving US and Israeli officials regarding the gas supply plans but didn’t disclose where they were held.

According to the report, Israeli energy specialists took part in the talks, but it’s otherwise unclear what Israel’s role was. Turkey has recently mentioned possible cooperation with the Jewish state on energy.

A senior Iranian official is quoted in the report saying the attack was a “multi-purposed message to many people and groups. It’s up to them how to interpret it. Whatever (Israel) is planning, from energy sector to agriculture, will not materialize.”