Middle East
Iran’s new consul general in Sulaimani, Sayyid Mohammad Mir Hosseini, speaking during a presser on April 6, 2026. Photo: Screengrab / Rudaw
SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region - Iran’s new consul general in Sulaimani said Monday that Tehran will continue targeting what it calls US, Israeli, and opposition-linked sites in the Kurdistan Region, describing them as “legitimate targets.”
Sayyid Mohammad Mir Hosseini made the remarks at the Iranian Consulate, a short distance from the site of an overnight Iranian drone strike on a civilian building in central Sulaimani that damaged nearby houses and vehicles. There were no casualties. Iran said opposition members were residing in the building.
“Our security is our red line… anywhere where the Americans or elements of the Zionist regime or the armed opposition groups are based are our legitimate targets,” Mir Hosseini said in response to a Rudaw question. “It does not matter where they are, here in Kurdistan Region, in Qatar, Bahrain or Saudi Arabia … we are carrying out legitimate defense.”
Since February 28, when the US and Israel launched a military campaign against Iran, Tehran and its allied armed groups in Iraq have carried out hundreds of attacks across the Kurdistan Region. Targets have included US military personnel, diplomatic facilities, Peshmerga bases, camps of armed opposition groups, hotels, as well as civilian homes and energy infrastructure.
US forces in Erbil have intercepted most of the attacks, which have included one-way drones, tactical ballistic missiles, and cruise missiles. According to Rudaw monitoring, the Kurdistan Region has been hit by 638 drone and missile attacks since the start of the war, leaving 14 people dead and 93 others injured. Of these, 507 targeted Erbil province, 104 Sulaimani, 25 Duhok, and two Halabja.
US President Donald Trump on Sunday warned that Washington could strike Iran’s civilian infrastructure, including its energy sector, if the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened within 48 hours.
Iran dismissed the threat as “helpless” and “stupid,” warning it could escalate attacks on energy infrastructure across the region if such strikes are carried out. Tehran has continued launching missiles toward Israel and Gulf countries.
Mir Hosseini also referenced Trump’s Sunday claim that US weapons were sent to Iranian protesters through Kurdish groups, without specifying which groups.
Iran sees the plethora of Kurdish armed opposition groups based in the Kurdistan Region as a serious threat and has continued a campaign of intimidation and assassination against individual peshmerga fighters as well as drone and missile attacks on their bases.
Authorities in the Kurdistan Region have repeatedly said they do not want to be drawn into the conflict and will not allow their territory to be used as a launchpad for attacks against neighboring countries.
Mir Hosseini said Tehran would not accept “humiliation” under any circumstances in the ongoing conflict.
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