From the Liveblog of
Friday, March 18, 2022
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards threaten ‘Zionist bases’ in Iraq
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps threatens “Zionist bases” in Iraq.
Spokesman Ramezan Sharif says, “If Iraqi officials do not take action to remove other bases of the Zionists in that country while our security continues to be threatened from this region, we will respond without hesitation,” according to the semi-official Fars news agency.
“It is our natural right to destroy any base from which any attack is carried out against the security of Iran and this is a redline for us,” Sharif says, claiming Israeli drones flew out of Iraq into Iranian airspace.
Earlier this week, around 12 Iranian missiles hit targets in Irbil, the capital of Iraq Kurdistan. Some landed near the US consulate.
Iran claimed it hit Israeli bases in the attack, calling it retaliation for an Israeli strike in Syria that killed two members of its Revolutionary Guard the previous week.
No injuries were reported in the attack but it marked a significant escalation between Iran and the US, and upset Iraq’s leadership.
Iran and the US are negotiating a nuclear agreement in Vienna, and the US is reportedly considering de-listing the Revolutionary Guards as a terror group, to Israel’s chagrin.
Another report this week said Iran’s attack on Erbil was related to an airstrike in February that caused major damage to Iran’s drone fleet.
