The Iraqi government says it plans to deliver a ‘formal note of protest’ amid recent attacks on Iran linked to the US-Israeli war.
Published on 24 March 2026
Iraq says it plans to summon US and Iranian envoys to the country to condemn deadly attacks on Iraqi territory, as the country is increasingly dragged into the US-Israeli war over Iran.
The office of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said in a statement on Tuesday that the Foreign Ministry would “deliver formal notes of protest” to the US charge d’affaires in Iraq and the Iranian ambassador to Baghdad over the recent attacks.
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Those attacks included targeting the military’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) headquarters in Anbar province, as well as the Kurdistan Regional Guard headquarters in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region. The statement said.
The statement issued after Iraq’s National Security Council meeting also said the Foreign Ministry would file a formal complaint with the UN Security Council “regarding the aggressive acts and their consequences.”
Iraq is one of several countries in the Middle East that have faced attacks linked to the US-Israeli offensive on Iran, which began on February 28.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Iraqi President condemned the attack on the PMF’s command headquarters in Anbar, which killed at least 15 people, including the regional operations commander.
Also known as al-Hashd al-Shaabi, the PMF is a branch of the Iraqi military that includes some Iran-aligned armed groups.
Meanwhile, officials in Iraq’s Kurdish region accused Iran of launching two ballistic missile attacks on Kurdish forces, killing six and wounding 30 others.
The Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs said, “We strongly condemn this attack as well as all terrorist acts against the Kurdistan Region. At the same time, we reaffirm our inherent right to respond to any aggression against our people and our land.” a statement.
President of Iraq also Condemned it Attacking Kurdish forces, stressing that they are a “fundamental pillar of the national defense system”.
Iran has not formally commented on the deadly attack.
Iraq gives ‘right to respond’ to PMF, armed forces
Reporting from the Iraqi capital Baghdad, Al Jazeera’s Asad Baig said the attacks signaled a “significant escalation” for the country.
“This is no longer considered a sporadic but an ongoing campaign against Kurdish security forces, which is creating tension and spreading the conflict within the Kurdish region,” Begg said.
“Kurdish officials in northern Iraq had said they wanted no part in this conflict; they did not want to be part of any military escalation.”
In Tuesday’s statement, al-Sudani’s office also said the National Security Council had agreed to “confront and respond to military attacks” targeting the PMF and branches of the Iraqi armed forces, in accordance with the right of reply and self-defense.
The statement said the decision was made “in light of unjustified attacks and serious violations of Iraqi sovereignty, including the targeting of the official security headquarters”.
It could potentially open a new front in the deadly US-Israeli war over Iran, which has entered its fourth week and shows no sign of abating despite growing calls for de-escalation.
