Kurdish militants vow 'new resistance' against Iran following missile attacks

[trident]

UN urges Iran to respect Iraq’s sovereignty following Koya attack

Wladimir van Wilgenburg |

16 hours ago

 

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The Iranian missile attack on the headquarters of an Iranian Kurdish party in Koya, 100 kilometers east of the Kurdistan Region capital of Erbil, left 14 dead and 40 wounded, Sept. 8, 2018. (Photo: Wladimir van Wilgenburg)

 

United Nations UNAMI Koya Iran Iraq Kurdistan KDP-I PDKI

 

 

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) on Sunday urged the Iranian government to respect Iraq’s sovereignty.

In a tweet on its official account, the UNAMI said it “took note” of the respective statements from authorities in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Region regarding the bombing of Koya.

The group said it “supports their positions” and called on Iran to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its neighboring country.

 

The tweet follows the Iraqi government’s condemnation of Iran’s attack.

On Sunday, Iraq’s Foreign Ministry labeled Iran’s bombardment of the Kurdistan Region’s town of Koya as a violation of the country’s sovereignty.

“The Ministry affirms Iraq’s keenness for the security of its neighbors and its refusal to allow its territory to be used to threaten the security of those countries,” Ahmed Mahjoub, a spokesperson for the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, said in a statement.

Mahjoub added that Iraq “categorically rejects” the violation of its sovereignty via bombings “without prior coordination with the Iraqi authorities, to spare civilians of the effects of such operations.”

 

On Saturday morning, Iranian rockets targeted the headquarters of two Iranian Kurdish opposition groups, the Kurdistan Democratic Party – Iran (KDP-I) and the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI), as well as a refugee camp in the Kurdistan Region’s Koya town.

The bombardment killed 14 members from the two parties and injured 40 more, with two other members still missing, believed to be trapped under the rubble of destroyed buildings, the KDP-I said in a statement issued on Saturday evening.

It is the most significant attack on the KDP-I’s headquarters since 1996. The party split from the PDKI in 2006 following an internal dispute.

Loghman H. Ahmedi, Member of the Executive Board of PDKI’s Leadership, told Kurdistan 24 that so far, there has been global silence toward Iran’s attacks.

He said the attack was “Iran’s way of showing the world that they can do whatever they want in the region without fearing any consequences.”

“If the world does not have a prompt and decisive answer to these brutal violations of international law, we will see Iran become even more aggressive than they are now.”

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany

Related Article

[trident]

Middle East

Missiles that struck Kurdish opposition parties launched from Iran: KDP-I official

Kosar Nawzad |

19 hours ago

 

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The headquarters of an Iranian Kurdish party after a rocket attack in Koya, 100 kilometers east of Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region, Sept. 8, 2018. (Photo: Wladimir Van Wilgenburg)

 

Kurdistan Iran Koya IRGC

 

 

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A member of an Iranian Kurdish party on Sunday said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched the missiles that struck the bases of the regime’s opposition groups from Iran.

On Saturday morning, Iranian rockets targeted the headquarters of two Iranian Kurdish opposition groups, the Kurdistan Democratic Party – Iran (KDP-I) and the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI), as well as an Iranian Kurdish refugee camp in the Kurdistan Region’s Koya town.

A senior member of the KDP-I, Hassan Jazaeer-Chi, citing sources who had seen the missiles as they flew across the border into the Kurdistan Region, told Kurdistan 24 the rockets were launched from within the region’s eastern neighbor.

The interview with the KDP-I official came amid rumors of Iran having launched the missiles from sites within Iraq or the Kurdistan Region which multiple intelligence sources had previously informed Reuters.

“They came from across the border,” Jazaeer-Chi said. “They could not have come from Sulaimani or Kirkuk as the people at the border would not have been able to see them.”

 

“Two of the missiles struck the [KDP-I] headquarters, two others landed next to the camps which are next to the [local] school,” he revealed, adding that one of them had hit near the PDKI headquarters.

Earlier, the regime’s semi-official outlet, Tasnim, quoted the IRGC as saying that “seven short-range surface-to-surface missiles” were fired at the headquarters of the two parties from a 220-kilometer distance. They also claimed they had used Fateh-110 missiles for the attack, adding that drones were used to monitor the entire process in Koya.

Iran’s military did not mention the location of the launch. But locals in the town of Azarshahr — the distance between the center of which Koya is nearly 220 kilometers — from the country’s East Azerbaijan Province posted videos on social media showing the rockets being launched.

 

Giving the latest data on the number of casualties from both sides, Jazaeer-Chi told Kurdistan 24 that so far, 15 members of their party and three from the PDKI had lost their lives in the attack.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany

(Additional reporting by Wladimir Van Wilgenburg)

[Butifldrm]

SEPTEMBER 9, 2018 / 3:08 PM / UPDATED 15 HOURS AGO

Iran completes facility to build centrifuges: nuclear chief

 

 

2 MIN READ

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran has completed a facility to build advanced centrifuges, Iran’s nuclear chief was quoted on Sunday as saying, as Tehran prepares to increase its uranium-enrichment capacity if the nuclear deal collapses after the United States exits.

Head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Ali-Akbar Salehi attends the opening of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) General Conference at their headquarters in Vienna, Austria September 18, 2017. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger

In June, Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said the facility at the Natanz nuclear plant would be completed within a month.

Salehi’s statement in June came days after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said he had ordered preparations to increase the country’s uranium enrichment capacity if the nuclear agreement with world powers collapsed.

On Sunday, the official news agency IRNA quoted Salehi as saying: “(Ayatollah Khamenei) had ordered us to set up and complete a very advanced hall for the construction of modern centrifuges, and this hall has now been fully equipped and set up.”

Salehi said Iran’s announced plans to build nuclear reactors for ships, while staying within the limits set by its atomic deal with major powers, was “advancing well but would take 10 to 15 years to complete”, IRNA said.

“A third step (in reaction to the U.S. withdrawal) might be to suspend some of the limitations within the nuclear agreement, for example on the volume and level of enrichment,” Salehi said, according to IRNA.

“And the final scenario can be a complete exit from the nuclear accord, which I hope will never happen, with the help of (remaining signatories), because everyone would suffer,” Salehi added.

Iranian officials have said they would decide whether to quit the 2015 nuclear deal after studying a planned European package of economic measures that could help offset U.S. 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-nuclear-salehi/iran-completes-facility-to-build-centrifuges-nuclear-chief-idUSKCN1LP0RE

[ChuckFinley]

Well, let's see how the UN, EU, and the rest of the world sees this.  

[Butifldrm]

 

Urgent policy .. Iran calls on Baghdad and Erbil to hand them "implicated" and threatening to bomb again

 

 Twilight News    

 

 14 minutes ago

 

 

The chief of staff of the Iranian army, Mohammad Hussein Bagheri, announced that Iraq must hand over to Iran responsible for attacks on Iranian border guards. 
"The authorities of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and the Iraqi authorities must hand over to the Islamic Republic of Iran persons involved in terrorist acts against Iran," Baqeri said. 
He added that his country may carry out a new missile strike if not stop the activity of what they described Kurdish terrorist groups, because that is necessary to ensure security, he said. 
On Saturday, Iran's armed forces carried out a missile strike on Iraqi territory. The bombing targeted the headquarters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran in the city of Quesengq, Erbil province, which resulted, according to local sources, killing 11 people and wounding 30 others.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard later confirmed that it was behind the bombing. While the Iraqi Foreign Ministry described for its part the unacceptable attack on its territory, which was carried out without coordination with Baghdad.

 

Keywords: 

 

http://www.shafaaq.com/ar/Ar_NewsReader/dec5a0b2-cb37-49dd-8852-d958e5ef36be

[Butifldrm]

U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL MEETING, LED BY TRUMP, TO INCREASE PRESSURE ON IRAN

 

 

Experts expect the US president to use the occasion to mobilize international support for renewed economic sanctions.

BY MAYA MARGIT/THE MEDIA LINE

 

 SEPTEMBER 10, 2018 05:18

 

3 minute read.

 

United States President Donald Trump will later this month chair a high-level United Nations Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, in a bid to tighten the diplomatic screws on Iran. The American leader is expected to use the session to focus the spotlight on Tehran's regional expansionism through its proxies in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen; its ballistic missile program; and its global arm sales—all of which, according to the Trump administration, violate existing UNSC resolutions.

“We want to make sure that [the Iranians] understand the world is watching [and] that is the biggest reason for this meeting," US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley explained, leading analysts to posit that the primary American goal is to continue ratcheting up pressure on the mullahs.

In response, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accused the US president of hypocrisy, tweeting, “There's only one UNSC resolution on Iran. @realDonaldTrump is violating it & bullying others to do same. Now he plans to abuse [the rotating] presidency of [the Security Council which Washington holds in September] to divert a session—item devoted to Palestine for 70 yrs—to blame Iran for horrors US & clients have unleashed across M.E. #chutzpah.”

Zarif was referring to the unanimous adoption in July 2015 of UNSC resolution 2231, which endorsed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action—commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal—and President Trump's subsequent unilateral withdrawal from the pact in May.

Washington has to date failed to condemn Iran in the Security Council due to the veto power of the latter's backers Russia and China. This past February, for example, Moscow torpedoed a US bid to denounce Tehran for shipping weaponry to Houthi rebels in Yemen.

“[President Trump] is looking to mobilize the support of the international community, especially the signatories of the Iran nuclear deal,” with regards to economic sanctions, Dr. Raz Zimmt, a Senior Research Fellow at the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies, asserted to The Media Line.

“[The Iranians] consider Trump’s appearance as a provocation and they expect him to use this opportunity to attack Iran,” he elaborated. “The main question is whether Trump wants to use this opportunity to arrange a meeting with [Iranian] President Hassan Rouhani, assuming he will be attending. We still don’t know because Zarif might be sent instead. My assessment is that Tehran will [anyways] never agree to that meeting.


“All we will see is continued anti-Iranian rhetoric so I don’t think [Trump’s speech] will change anything in particular,” Dr. Zimmt predicted. 

“Each side is just going to use this opportunity to express their stance." Dr. Eldad Pardo, an Iran expert at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, stressed to The Media Line that reining in Tehran is a “major foreign policy issue for the US” and that the UNSC meeting would be geared towards getting the Islamic Republic back to the negotiating table.

“Trump wants to change Iran’s behavior by exerting a lot of pressure on it,” he explained. “Most of all, the US would like to see Iran give up its nuclear ambitions” and destabilizing activities in the region.

“In order to pressure Iran, you need to rebuild the crippling sanctions and for this you need an international coalition,” Dr. Zimmt noted, arguing that other nations would likely abide by Washington's demands in order to maintain crucial diplomatic and trade ties.

A second batch of US sanctions targeting Iran's oil sector will take effect in November, with a report this week by Oxford Economics suggesting that the new penalties will "cripple the [Iranian] economy" which could to contract by as much as 4 percent next year.

President Trump on Wednesday contended that Iran is in “total turmoil” and that the Iranian regime is now "just worrying about [its] own survival.”

The Security Council session is slated to take place on September 26 during the annual opening of UN General Assembly in New York.

Charles Bybelezer contributed to this report.

https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/UN-Security-Council-led-by-Trump-meeting-to-reduce-pressure-on-Iran-566908

[Bama Girl]

“The authorities of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and the Iraqi authorities must hand over to the Islamic Republic of Iran persons involved in terrorist acts against Iran," Baqeri said. 
 He added that his country may carry out a new missile strike if not stop the activity of what theydescribed Kurdish terrorist groups, because that is necessary to ensure security, he said”

 

Baqeri best understand that Obama is not the one in the Oval Office in D.C. right now. 

[trident]

Iran’s Guard Commander warns more missiles could strike enemies within 2,000 km

Kosar Nawzad |

47 minutes ago

 

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Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), July 27, 2018. (Photo: Tasnim)

 

Kurdistan Iran Koya PDKI KDP-I IRGC

 

 

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iran’s recent missile attack on the Kurdistan Region’s town of Koya is a “message” to world powers, the Chief Commander of the regime's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) declared on Thursday.

Aided by “precision rockets and aeronautic technology,” the IRGC was able to “avenge the blood of the fallen martyrs at the Marivan base and the rest of [Iran’s] Kurdistan Province,” stated Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, Chief Commander of the IRGC, according to Tasnim, an outlet with close ties with the army.

Multiple clashes have taken place in the country in recent months, with both sides claiming lives from the other, most notably in an attack on a military base in Marivan (Mariwan) County, where the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), killed ten Iranian border guards.

On Saturday, in turn, the Islamic Regime claimed the lives of 15 and injured 42 more members from two opposition parties, Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) and Kurdistan Democratic Party – Iran (KDP-I), whose headquarters reside in the outskirts of the Kurdistan Region’s town of Koya. The attack, purportedly, was conducted from a 220-kilometer distance from the Iranian Province of East Azerbaijan with seven domestically produced missiles.

“Those who lie within a 2,000-kilometer range of Iranian soil and have bases, forces, and equipment should know that all of the IRGC missiles have high precision,” warned the Chief Commander.

Earlier this week, senior Iranian Kurdish (Rojhilati) officials from the two parties hit by Iran’s attack, told Kurdistan 24 that the ballistic rockets which left dozens of casualties in their wake were a “message to the Trump administration.”

IRGC’s Jafari affirmed the recent attacks send “a strong message to our enemies, especially the [world] superpowers who think they can impose their evil intentions on and bully [Iran].”

“Today, our possession of a stockpile of missiles with a 2,000-kilometer range has provided a unique power to the Islamic Republic of Iran,” a possible reference to the army’s medium-range rockets, one of which is the Ashoura, with similarities to their Sejjil-2.

“Now,” he continued, “our nation, with the support of these capabilities and the potential of faithful and revolutionary forces, can resist global arrogance,” Jafari said.

Last month, Iran unveiled its F-5 fighter jet lookalike, dubbed Kowsar, in what has been widely considered yet another attempt to demonstrate its “military might” against the US in the region. The Islamic Republic has also been struggling to distract from an economic crisis and growing domestic unrest, worsened by recent US sanctions and calls for a change in the regime’s behavior.

Editing by Nadia Riva

[ChuckFinley]

I still think they need to take the head of the snake off. 

[Butifldrm]

US Senate plans to punish Iraqi factions "linked" to Iran

6 hours ago

 

 

 

NRT

Republican senators are planning a bill aimed at "Iran's growing influence in Iraq," a congressional aide said,  amid fears of attacks on US interests in Iraq by groups seen by US officials as proxies to Iran .

Reuters quoted the US official as saying in a press statement on Wednesday (September 12th) that members of the US Senate from the Republican Party are preparing a bill that includes the imposition of terrorism-related sanctions on some Iraqi factions close to Iran .

He said the project would ask US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to publish a list of armed groups receiving help from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards .

Among the signatories to the bill, known as the Iran-backed Terrorist Sanctions Act, are Republican senators David Perdue, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, while a similar bill was introduced in the House of Representatives with the support of Rep . Ted Bo .

There have yet to be any comments on when the legislation will be considered by congressional committees .

The White House said in a statement on Tuesday that the United States "will respond quickly and firmly" to any attacks by Tehran agents against US interests in Iraq .

"The United States will hold the regime in Tehran responsible for any attack that results in casualties among our people or damage to US government installations. America will respond quickly and decisively in defense of American lives, " the statement said .

Washington also accused Tehran of failing to prevent recent attacks on the US consulate in Basra and the US embassy complex in Baghdad after three rockets landed on the heavily fortified Green Zone, which includes government offices, embassies and foreign missions, including the US embassy .

"Iran has given ballistic missiles to allied Shiite insurgent groups in Iraq and is building capacity to do more there, in a development that is likely to increase tensions in relations between Washington and Tehran," Reuters reported last month .

R.

http://www.nrttv.com/AR/News.aspx?id=4343&MapID=2

[Butifldrm]

America imposes embargo on Iraq!

 

 Thursday 13 September 2018 - 11:54 GMT

News and commentary 

The world - the news and Arab 

News: Republican members of the Senate introduced a draft resolution that the need to address the Iranian influence in Iraq. On the basis of this project, sanctions are to be imposed on the currents and parties backed by Iran.

Analysis:

- The announcement of this project coincided with the decision taken by the two major political allies and influential on the Iraqi arena to form the largest parliamentary bloc, indicates that US politicians are trying to compensate for their failure on the political level by waving the use of force and violence.

- It was expected from the start that the large "no" that the Iraqi people said to America in the elections and the largest "no" of Trump, which was in the declaration of convergence of views between the two major alliances, "Saron" and "conquest" will face such discontent replies, But more importantly, it will become clearer to all than ever the extent and standard of American hostility and friendship to the Iraqi people.

- Alongside this move by the Senate, there is a similar draft resolution that is winding up in the US House of Representatives. If we assume that the two drafts have been phased in and put into effect, there are still many questions about the Iraqi authorities to be imposed on the embargo and details of this ban. The truth is that all Iraqi political currents and parties have good relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran (the reactions they have made to the statements and the position of the Iraqi prime minister regarding the embargo on Iran clearly reveal this). Will America be able to impose a ban on all Iraqi people and officials?

https://www.alalam.ir/news/3776596/أميركا-تفرض-الحظر-على العراق-

[Butifldrm]

Kurdistan government refuses to hand over Iranian opposition to "ensuring international laws"

The Kurdistan Regional Government announced on Thursday its refusal to extradite the elements of the Iranian-Kurdish opposition parties to Tehran to ensure international laws.

"No one from the opposition parties living in the Kurdistan region can be handed over to the Iranian authorities," government spokesman Sven Dzeyi said.

"These people have been on the territory of the whole country and Iraq since the eighties of the last century and the era of Saddam Hussein, according to agreements, and a large part of them refugees in Iraq and must respect the rules and international laws in dealing with them."

On the other hand, he stressed that "the da'ja reorganizes itself in the disputed areas between Arbil and Baghdad after the withdrawal of the Peshmerga forces, including on October 16 last year," noting that "what matters to us primarily is not to target civilians in those areas."

"Unfortunately, these areas were the Peshmerga forces are present after terrorism tried to control them in 2014 and the withdrawal of Iraqi forces, which returned after the events of October 16 last year and Iraqi forces can not secure those areas."

He pointed out that "the elements of the Daash reorganized itself in those villages and areas and attacking citizens there after the withdrawal of the Peshmerga from them," explaining that "the government of the Territory is trying to find a joint tripartite coordination with the Iraqi government and US forces to prevent the emergence of the militant organization in those areas in addition to securing them fully" .

Iran's chief of staff, Mohammad Hussein Bagheri, said Tuesday that Iraq must hand over to Iran Kurdish elements responsible for attacks on Iranian border guards.

He added that his country may carry out a new missile strike if the activities of Kurdish groups did not stop, because that is necessary to ensure its security, he said.

Last Saturday, Iran's armed forces carried out a missile strike on Iraqi territory.

The bombing targeted the headquarters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran in the city of Quesengq, Erbil, which resulted, according to local sources, killing 11 people and wounding 30 others.

https://www.iraqpressagency.com/?p=285315

[Butifldrm]

White House Threatens Military Response Against Iran-Backed Militias in Iraq

by Tyler Durden

Thu, 09/13/2018 - 02:05

39

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Iraq may once again, for the first time in nearly a decade, become a theater of US-Iran confrontation according to a White House statement published Tuesday evening.

“The United States will hold the regime in Tehran accountable for any attack that results in injury to our personnel or damage to United States government facilities,” press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a written statement posted to WhiteHouse.gov. “America will respond swiftly and decisively in defense of American lives.”

Image source: Long War Journal

The threat of military force comes after the American embassy in Baghdad's 'green zone' came under a brazen overnight mortar attack last Thursday, which left no one injured but started a blaze near the sprawling embassy's gate.

Up to four mortars were fired in what officials confirmed was a targeted assault American diplomatic soil. Defense analysts and officials were quick to blame Iran-backed militias in the area, which had previously in the week vowed in a joint statement to expel all "foreign occupying forces" from the country. 

And days later multiple rockets were fired at the Basra airport, which is also site of the United States consulate for the area. Though denying it had a role in events in Basra or Baghdad, Tehran's leaders did admit to a major missile attack on the headquarters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Northern Iraqi Kurdistan, which resulted in up to a dozen killed and scores wounded. 

 

Amichai Stein

 

✔@AmichaiStein1

 

 

#BREAKING: Iran IRGC confirm missile strikes on Kurd rebels in Iraq: 7 missiles fired

8:03 AM - Sep 9, 2018

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The White House statement, which condemns "life threatening attacks" against "the United States consulate in Basra and against the American embassy compound in Baghdad" also follows two weeks of heightened sectarian tensions across various parts of the country, but especially the southern Sunni-majority city of Basra, where the Iranian consulate was burned to the ground after it was stormed by a mob late last week. 

Secretary Pompeo

 

✔@SecPompeo

 

 

Deeply concerned about reports of #Iran transferring ballistic missiles into Iraq. If true, this would be a gross violation of Iraqi sovereignty and of UNSCR 2231. Baghdad should determine what happens in Iraq, not Tehran.

10:50 AM - Sep 1, 2018

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The statement puts Iran on notice and pledges that it will be held responsible for such incidents: "Iran did not act to stop these attacks by its proxies in Iraq, which it has supported with funding, training, and weapons," reads the press release. 

 

mostafa.m@MostafaMe4

 

 

#Breaking #Now
Sep 11
Heather Nauert press conference
The #USA condemned #Iran behavior the unstabilizing region and missile attack on #Iraq
@pjpaton @statedeptspox #IRGC_OUT

3:10 PM - Sep 11, 2018

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US officials have yet to reveal any evidence that Iran was directly behind either the embassy or Basra consulate attacks, but days prior ten pro-Iran Shia militias in the country published a statement vowing to expel foreign troops and advisers by force if they didn't immediately leave Iraq. 

“We will deal with them [foreign troops in Iraq] as occupying forces, and we will use our legitimate rights by employing all possible means to force them out of the country,” the Iraqi factions warned, adding that foreign troops were "in their sights".

The statement first published last Tuesday further declared there was an “Anglo-American-led dirty and dangerous conspiracy to impose a devilish coalition” on the people of Iraq which seeks to weaken the government and make Baghdad a puppet of Brett McGurk, who is the White House appointed special envoy for the anti-ISIL coalition. 

The Shia militias later blamed Washington for being behind the mass anti-Iran and anti-Iraqi government protests that engulfed Basra and resulted in the Iranian consulate being burned down along with dozens of Shia militia headquarters and other facilities across the city. 

“The American Embassy is directing the situation in Basra,” charged Abu Medhi al-Mohandis in public statements. Mohandis is a well-known Shiite militia commander who U.S. officials accuse of long being on Iran's payroll. 

All of this also comes after allegations that Iran has transferred ballistic missiles to its proxy forces in Iraq, which are said to be easily capable of hitting Tel Aviv and Riyadh, according to Western and Iraqi intelligence sources cited in a recent Reuters report. 

Given current broader tensions in the region and charges of "Iranian expansion" it will be interesting to see if the US again ramps up operations in Iraq. Should the proxy war waging across the border in Syria actually come to an end, it may very well be that Iraq again becomes the new ground zero for the West's anti-Iran proxy war.  

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-09-11/white-house-threatens-military-response-against-iran-backed-militias-iraq

[justchecking123]

The shot's hitting the fan.

 

Didn't take long.

 

Pray for the Iraqi people.

 

[Butifldrm]

Al-Alusi's policy calls on Baghdad to call the Iranian ambassador "immediately": Mafrkh the Ambassador of Algeria?

 

 Twilight News    

 

 Wednesday, 12 September 2018

 

 

The Secretary General of the Iraqi Umma Party, Mithal al-Alusi, on Wednesday called on the Iraqi government to call the Iranian ambassador in Baghdad and hand over a strong protest note because of the missile attack of the Revolutionary Guards on the Kurdistan Region. 
"Unfortunately, the Iraqi government did not take any action against the blatant missile attacks on Iraqi soil, even though it summoned the Algerian ambassador because of individual cheers during a football match and did not summon the ambassador, whose country bombed Iraq and fell victim to the bombing, Shameless dead and wounded. " 
He added that "the Iraqi government and its foreign call the Iranian ambassador in Baghdad and handed over a strong protest note because of the missile row of the Revolutionary Guards on the Kurdistan region," noting that "
Iran's chief of staff, Mohammad Hussein Bagheri, said on Tuesday that Iraq must hand over to Iran Kurdish militants responsible for attacks on Iranian border guards, threatening to carry out a new missile strike. 
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard has confirmed earlier that it launched a missile attack on the headquarters of the Democratic Party of Kurdistan, Iran in the city of Koya, and resulted in dozens of dead and wounded.

 

Keywords: 

http://www.shafaaq.com/ar/Ar_NewsReader/c72ad838-0717-42e7-bfaf-327c333695c5

[trident]

Republicans seek sanctions on Iraqi militias with Iran ties

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican U.S. senators plan to introduce legislation on Wednesday seeking to counteract what they see as Iran’s increasing influence in Iraq, amid concern about attacks in Iraq by groups U.S. officials consider Iranian proxies, a Senate aide said on Wednesday.

 

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Senator David Perdue (R-GA) speaks to members of the media after meeting with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump at Trump Tower in New York, U.S., December 2, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar

Among other things, the bill, whose text was seen by Reuters, would impose terrorism-related sanctions on Iranian-controlled militias and require the U.S. Secretary of State to publish and maintain a list of armed groups receiving assistance from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC.

Sponsored

Sponsors of the “Iranian Proxies Terrorist Sanctions Act” include Senators David Perdue, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. A similar bill, backed by Republican Representative Ted Poe, has been introduced in the House of Representatives.

 

FILE PHOTO: Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., July 28, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein

There was no immediate word on when the legislation might be considered by congressional committees, normally the first steps toward becoming law.

Three mortar shells landed inside Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone just after midnight local time on Friday, the first such attack in several years in the area, which houses parliament, government buildings and many foreign embassies.On Tuesday, the United States warned Iran that it would “respond swiftly and decisively” to any attacks by its allies in Iraq that resulted in injury to Americans or damage to U.S. facilities.

Reuters reported last month that Iran had given ballistic missiles to Shi’ite Muslim proxy groups in Iraq and was developing the capacity to build more there, a development likely to exacerbate tensions between Tehran and Washington, already heightened by President Donald Trump.

 

FILE PHOTO: Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) speaks at a press conference at the Capitol Building in Washington, U.S., September 26, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein

In May, Trump withdrew the United States from a 2015 international nuclear accord with Iran and ordered the reimposition of U.S. sanctions suspended under the deal aimed at stalling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities.

Iran’s Sunni Muslim Gulf neighbors and its arch-enemy Israel have expressed concerns about Tehran’s regional activities as a threat to their security.

 

Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; editing by Grant McCool

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[trident]

Middle East

Iran arrests Kurds striking to protest regime's recent attacks, executions

Kosar Nawzad |

4 hours ago

 

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Merchants and shopkeepers in Iranian Kurdistan shut down their stores to protest the Iranian government's recent actions. (Photo: social media)

 

Iran Kurdistan Rojhilat Strikes

 

 

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iran has arrested multiple activists involved in a coordinated Rojhilat-wide (Iranian Kurdistan) strike that took place on Wednesday in response to the Islamic Republic’s missile attack on the headquarters of opposition parties in the Kurdistan Region and the execution of three activists on Saturday.

On Sunday, the Iranian Kurdistan Parties Cooperation Center—which consists of all Rojhilati groups that seek Kurdish rights in the country and was established to counter Iran's concentrated efforts to combat the groups—issued a statement calling for the people of the region to immediately.

“People in Kurdistan will stage a peaceful general strike to show the brutal Islamist regime in Iran that we will not accept more military attacks against our political parties and executions of our political activists,” said Loghman H. Ahmedi, a senior member of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) leadership, to Kurdistan 24 during the strike.

Social media users posted footage of participants in various cities and towns from the four provinces that constitute Rojhilat: Kermanshah, Kurdistan, West Azerbaijan, and Ilam. Stores were closed and the streets deserted.

 

Later in the day, videos showed officers from the Ministry of Intelligence (Etelaat) wearing street clothes and marking some stores closed or with an "X" in spray paint. Rights groups expressed concerns that owners of these shops would later be taken in for questioning by police.

“To inspire horror and fear among the strikers, Etelaat agents started marking locked shops in the city of Oshnavieh [Shno] and threatened arrest and torture,” reported a rights group named Irane Ma, meaning "Our Iran."Relying on local sources, Iran Human Rights Monitor (Iran-HRM) reported that three civil rights activists by the name of Mukhtar Zareei, Khalid Hosseini, and Mozaffar Salih-Niya were arrested Tuesday night, and three others named Soran Danesh-War, Aram Fathi, and Muslim Behrami were later arrested on Wednesday.

On Saturday morning, in a successive and coordinated manner, Iran launched seven missiles at the two party headquarters in the Kurdistan Region's town of Koya, killing 15 and injuring 42, according to local officials. The action came just hours after the much-feared execution of the three political activists, for whom major human rights organizations had called on the country to halt.

Editing by John J. Catherine

Edited September 13, 2018 by trident
gap

[Pitcher]

Kurdish militants vow 'new resistance' against Iran following missile attacks

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Iranian Kurdish militants who were targeted by Iranian missile strikes earlier this month at a headquarters in Iraqi Kurdistan have declared intentions to step up their activities against Iran, VOA said in a report on Tuesday.

The rocket strikes, claimed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), hit Democratic Party of Kurdistan of Iran (KDPI) offices in the Iraqi Kurdistan town of Koya, near the Iran border, on September 8.

 

KDPI said 15 of its members were killed and several others were injured in the attack.

 

“This tragedy requires that we work closely together to prevent more criminal acts from the Islamic Republic [Iran],” Mustafa Mauludi, secretary general of KDPI, said.

 

“From this moment we will begin a new chapter of resistance against the regime in Tehran, for the sake of freedom of our nation,” he added.

 

KDPI, labelled a terrorist organization by Tehran, is Iran's oldest Kurdish movement. It has been engaged in a persistent guerrilla war against the Iranian regime since 1979 to achieve “Kurdish national rights within a democratic federal republic of Iran.”

 

The group currently operates in exile in neighboring Iraq’s Kurdistan region.

 

Mauludi said his group will begin negotiations with other Kurdish opposition parties to unite forces against the government in Tehran, adding that informal talks about a unified Kurdish front were already underway even before the attack.

 

Cross-border attacks

 

Iranian officials have in the past blamed Kurdish separatists for several attacks against the Iranian border patrol forces near the Iraqi border.

 

The IRGC in a statement last week said the strike on the KDPI headquarter was due to incursions of "terrorist bands linked to the U.S." into Iran's West Azarbaijan, Kurdistan and Kermanshah provinces in northwest, an accusation denied by KDPI.

 

 

"The punishment of transgressors was planned following the recent months' wicked acts by terrorists from the Kurdistan Region against Iran's borders," the IRGC statement said.

 

U.S. accused

 

Iranian officials claim the increased Kurdish insurgency is motivated by the U.S. and aims to create instability in Iran at a time when the economy is suffering significantly due to the U.S. sanctions following the American withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal in May.

 

Last week, IRGC’s top commander Mohammad Bagheri said the strike inside the Iraqi territory was Iran’s right to defend itself from U.S. “aggressions.”

 

“Iraqi Kurdish officials and the PDKI had made a written commitment not to conduct operations in Iran, but they have been breaking that promise over the past year due to the U.S. provocations," Bagheri said.

 

A U.S. State Department official denied Washington is attempting to encourage militancy against the regime in Tehran.

 

"The U.S. is not supporting Kurdish military activity against Iran," the official said. "Our activities in Iraq stand in stark contrast with those of the Iranian regime, which is working on a daily basis, through violence and intimidation, to subvert the will of the Iraqi people and undermine Iraq’s sovereignty."

 

The official said that the U.S. is only working with the Iraqi central government and the Kurdistan regional government as elected governments of the country, adding Iran’s goal is to spread instability in Iraq and “maintain a pattern of malign behavior in the region.”

 

Iraqi-Kurdish position

 

The Iraqi and Kurdish governments, which issued statements condemning the strikes as a violation of their sovereignty, say they want both sides to avoid using Iraq in their conflict.

 

 

The Kurdish government’s representative to Iran, Nazim Dabagh, said that his government warned KDPI leaders in the past that their bases could be attacked if they continued their activities against Tehran.

 

Dabagh urged Iranian Kurdish militants to avoid military conflict, as it might ruin the security of the Kurdistan region.

 

“The military confrontation between the Kurdish opposition armed group and Iran does not resolve the issues between both sides as much as diplomatic means do. Such confrontations only please the enemies of Kurds, the Kurdistan Region and Iran,” Dabagh said.

 

Increased militancy

 

Experts say that the escalation between Iran and the Kurdish insurgency is expected to continue asmilitants feel embolden by internal and international pressure on the Iranian regime.

According to Babak Taghvaee, a Malta-based Iranian analyst, the Iran-Iraq border point will likely witness more paramilitary attacks from KDPI members and other Kurdish militants who might want to take advantage of the gap created when Iranian government forces leave Kurdish areas to suppress protests in other parts of the country.

 

“They have increased their activities because they believe Iran’s protests and the withdrawal of the regime might provide an opportunity for them to separate Iran's Kurdistan province,” Taghvaee said.

 

Raman Ghavami, a London-based counter-insurgency analyst, said the Iranian regime could attempt to use the escalation with the Kurdishmilitants to gain support of Persian nationalists who oppose Kurdish statehood.

 

“Attacking Kurdish opposition groups and executing Kurds have been used as a tactic to get Persian nationalists’ support for decades. But the current situation inside Iran has made it difficult for the regime to get the same support as before. Tehran has therefore failed to use the Kurds to unite the central part of Iran behind the government,” Ghavami added.

 

https://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/Story/31539/Kurdish-militants-vow-new-resistance-against-Iran-following-missile-attacks

[ChuckFinley]

Time to let loose the dog of war in Iran. Let the Kurds in Iran start dealing with Iran in house. We need to be setting up counter battery for the next missile attack.