The protest occurred as Kurdish security officials, including the Peshmerga, accused the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps being involved in the Iraqi-led military operations against the Kurdistan Region in the oil-rich Kirkuk province, and other disputed or Kurdistani areas claimed by both Erbil and Baghdad.
A video shared on Kurdish social media shows a young man climbing over the wall of the Iranian consulate and taking down the Iranian flag to cheers by protesters.
The statement from the Iranian consulate read that a number of people who were under “political” influence targeted the consulate after office hours Friday evening.
It added that the “noble people of Erbil” remember the sacrifices of two Iranian security forces who died defending Erbil while the ISIS group was at the gate of Erbil in 2014.
Iran was one of the first countries that provided military support to the Kurdistan Region when ISIS militants attacked the Kurdish territories.
It said that the protection of Iran’s missions in the Kurdistan Region and Iranian nationals was the responsibility of the Kurdish authorities. It claimed that they have received messages of support from Kurdish officials and the citizens.
Iran has two missions in Kurdistan, Erbil and Sulaimani.
Iran, like Turkey, opposed the Kurdish independence referendum held on September 25 that saw 93 percent of the people voting to leave Iraq.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi stated that Iraq, Iran and Turkey started to have joint meetings months before the referendum to take coordinated measures against Erbil.
People also staged demonstration outside the US consulate and UN missions in Erbil Friday and Saturday.
The protesters were particularly angry with the Iraqi forces and the Iranian-backed Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi using American weapons against the Kurdish Peshmerga, including on Friday when the two forces engaged in heavy fighting near Altun Kupri or Pirde, about 50 km south of the Kurdish capital.
