Iran fires missiles at 'terrorists and spies' near US consulate

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced on Monday that it had deployed ballistic missiles to ISIS bases in Syria and the bases of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency in Iraq in response to recent terrorist attacks in Iran.

On January 3, two explosions occurred in Kerman, where pilgrims gathered to commemorate the late General Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated by the United States in 2020, killing nearly 100 people. The Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) claimed responsibility. Last month, another suicide bomb attack took place in Rusk, killing 11 Iranian police officers. The Pakistani group Jaish al-Adl was blamed.

"In response to the recent crimes of terrorist groups in the cities of Kerman and Rusk, where they unjustly tortured our beloved compatriots, we declared the gathering place of ISIS commanders and elements involved in recent terrorist operations in the occupied, identified, and destroyed territories. Syrian territory "launched a series of ballistic missiles," the IRGC said in a statement. The IDF said in a later statement that it had fired the missiles at "one of the main espionage headquarters of the Zionist regime (Mossad) in the Kurdistan region of Iraq."

He added that the attack was "a response to the Zionist regime's recent brutal torture of Revolutionary Guard and Resistance Front commanders."

"We assure our beloved country that IRMK's offensive operations will continue till the last drop of martyrs' blood is avenged," the group said. The report did not specify where the two attacks took place, but reports from Iraq said the missiles hit the city of Erbil. Iran struck suspected Israeli targets in Erbil in March 2022 in response to an earlier airstrike in Syria that killed two IRGC officers. The alleged Mossad base is located near the US consulate in Erbil, leading to false reports that Americans were targeted.

An Iraqi security source told ABC News that four people were killed in Erbil, but none of them were American soldiers. The same source said "eight locations" near the US consulate were affected.

Iranian media broadcast images of the missile launch several times. There were unconfirmed reports of several explosions and gunfire in Erbil, where air defense units were believed to have tried to deal with incoming shells.