Iraqi PM slams ‘terrorist attacks’ on diplomatic missions amid surge against US embassy

Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani on Tuesday ordered a probe into “terrorist attacks” targeting the United States’ embassy headquarters in the Iraqi capital, as well as a prominent hotel in Baghdad that houses diplomatic missions and a supergiant oil field in the country’s south a day earlier.

In a statement, Sabah al-Numan, spokesperson for the Iraqi premier, said that Sudani had ordered “all security and intelligence agencies to track down and pursue the perpetrators” behind the “repeated unjustified assaults on a number of key sectors, vital facilities, and diplomatic missions,” including the US embassy in Baghdad, the historic al-Rasheed Tulip Hotel in the capital’s heavily fortified Green Zone, as well as the supergiant Majnoon oil field in Iraq’s southernmost Basra province on Monday.

These “terrorist attacks” carry “serious consequences for our country and undermine the government’s efforts toward reconstruction and development,” Numan warned, citing the Iraqi premier as affirming that “the security of the state and the safety of its citizens are a red line that cannot be crossed.”

Sudani further ordered that security and local officials “who failed or neglected their duties within their areas of responsibility be held accountable,” the spokesperson added.

Numan’s statement came amid a series of attacks carried out against the US embassy since Monday. Video footage submitted to Rudaw showed what appeared to be the embassy's C-RAM defense systems intercepting suspected drones.


The attacks came shortly after Kata’ib Hezbollah said on Monday that its spokesperson and senior security official, Abu Ali al-Askari, had been killed. The announcement followed a strike that reportedly targeting one of the group’s positions in Baghdad on Saturday.

Moreover, footage captured by Rudaw’s reporter in Baghdad showed at least five fire trucks rushing to the well-known al-Rasheed Tulip Hotel in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone after a blast was heard.

In a statement, the Iraqi interior ministry said that “civil defense teams responded this evening [Monday] to a projectile that landed on the roof of al-Rasheed [Tulip] Hotel,” noting that “the incident resulted in no human or material damage.”

In a follow-up statement, the ministry added that “on-site and technical inspections conducted by specialized forensic teams… determined that a drone collided with the upper fence of the [Rasheed] hotel,” affirming that “the relevant authorities are continuing their investigative and technical procedures to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident and to take the necessary legal measures.”

The ministry further stressed “its continued efforts to protect diplomatic missions and vital facilities, and to pursue anyone attempting to undermine security and stability in the country.”

Of note, Rasheed hotel serves as a key diplomatic hub within Baghdad’s Green Zone, currently housing the headquarters of the European Union Advisory Mission (EUAM) in Iraq, along with the embassies of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. It also functions as a secure base for high-level United Nations delegations, international media outlets, and foreign business advisors.


The latest round of attacks comes as the US-Israeli joint campaign against Iran entered its eighteenth day on Tuesday. The US Central Command announced that the operation, dubbed Operation Epic Fury, had targeted more than 7,000 sites across Iran since its launch, with the stated aim of dismantling Iran’s security structure.

For its part, Iran earlier this month said it launched more than 2,000 drones and over 600 missiles targeting alleged US and Israeli positions in the region as part of its multi-front response, titled Operation True Promise 4.

The Iranian response has also included missile and drone attacks carried out by Iraqi armed groups across the country, including in the Kurdistan Region, which has endured more than 300 drone and missile strikes since late February, according to Rudaw monitoring until Tuesday, resulting in seven deaths and 35 injuries.

Zalmay Khalilzad, former US ambassador to Iraq, on Tuesday remarked that “the [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] IRGC-controlled Iraqi militias are attacking the US Embassy in Baghdad, as well as Kurdistan and our interests there.”

The veteran diplomat said that while “the Iraqi government is issuing statements condemning these attacks,” it “appears to be unable - or, sad to say more likely, unwilling to stop them.” Khalilzad urged the US to “devastate the military capabilities of these militias that for too long have enjoyed carte blanche to act as Iranian regime proxies with the toleration of the Iraqi government.”

He further stated that Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani “must be pressed to step up and move with force against these terrorist proxies.”