Iran hit its neighbors Pakistan and Iraq with missile strikes on Tuesday, prompting strong denunciations from both countries and raising fears that upheaval in the Middle East could spiral out of control.

Since the war in Gaza began in October, Iran has used its proxy forces against Israel and its allies. But on Tuesday, it said its latest missile strikes had been in response to terrorist attacks within its borders.

The missile strikes, nevertheless, raised tensions in a region where conflict has now touched at least five nations.

“They are contributing to the escalation of regional tensions — and it must stop,” Catherine Colonna, France’s minister for Europe and foreign affairs, said after the strike on Iraq. Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s national security adviser, also denounced the strike on Iraq.

Iraq was the first to report being hit in a strike in the Kurdistan region, which it said killed several people, including an 11-month-old girl. Hours after the Iraqi government recalled its ambassador to Tehran and summoned Iran’s chargé d’affaires in Baghdad to protest the strike, Pakistan said it, too, had been hit by its neighbor.

“Pakistan strongly condemns the unprovoked violation of its airspace by Iran and the strike inside Pakistani territory, which resulted in death of two innocent children while injuring three girls,” the government said in a statement. “This violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty is completely unacceptable and can have serious consequences.”

The missile strike in Pakistan, a nuclear-armed state, hit a remote mountainous region on Tuesday. The strike in Iraq, which has close political and military ties with Iran, hit the Kurdistan capital, Erbil, around midnight Tuesday and involved ballistic missiles and drones. Iraqi government officials said it had killed four civilians.

In both cases, Iranian officials said they were going after terrorists they accused of being behind recent attacks on its territory that have badly shaken Iranians. This month, suicide bombers killed 84 people at a memorial procession for a revered Iranian military leader, and in December, an attack on a police station killed at least 11 officers.

The Iraqi and Pakistani governments rejected Iran’s justifications.

“Pakistan has always said terrorism is a common threat to all countries in the region that requires coordinated action,” the Pakistani statement said, describing it as “even more concerning that this illegal act has taken place despite the existence of several channels of communication between Pakistan and Iran.”

Iran’s actions came amid widespread fears that the devastating war in Gaza could become a broader and deadlier regional conflict. Already, it has set off a low-level conflict between Iranian proxy forces and the United States and other Western powers.

The United States, Britain and France denounced the Iranian attack in Iraq, which set off sirens at the U.S. Consulate and forced the airport in Erbil to suspend flights.

Since the war between Israel and Hamas began, Iran has been sending conflicting signals about its general intentions in the region.

Privately, Iranian officials have been saying they want to avoid a larger conflict. But they have also been making bullish public pronouncements about proxy military forces that the country is propping up in the region and their importance in keeping the pressure on Israel and its allies.

Read more on original:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/16/world/middleeast/iraq-us-europe-iran-attack-kurdistan.html