Iraq Condemns U.S.-Zionist Sedition in Karbala
BAGHDAD (Dispatches) – The Iraqi government on Monday condemned an attack on the Iranian consulate in the holy city of Karbala, reaffirming Baghdad’s commitment to protection of diplomatic missions in the Arab country.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemns the attack by some demonstrators on the Consulate General of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the holy city of Karbala, and reaffirms the ministry’s commitment to the inviolability of diplomatic missions guaranteed by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the need not to endanger their security,” a ministry statement said.
The ministry said diplomatic missions in Iraq have been established on bilateral agreements, adding that they need to be respected and their security must not be endangered.
"The security of foreign missions and consulates is a red line and no encroachment would ever be permissible,” the statement noted.
The rioters reportedly scaled the concrete barriers surrounding the diplomatic complex in Karbala late on Sunday and spray-painted scurrilous writings on the perimeter’s walls.
Some of them threw stones and burned tires around the Iranian consulate building, prompting Iraqi security forces to fire in the air to disperse the crowd.
Reports said no serious damage was inflicted on the diplomatic mission building and the Iranian staff and diplomatic employees were uninjured.
On Sunday evening, Qais Khazali, the leader of the Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, which is part of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), said the occupying regime of Israel and the UAE are playing "a bigger role than the U.S. and Saudi Arabia” in the protests, which have gripped the country.
"Israel plays a more powerful role than the U.S. in the unrest and the Persian Gulf Arab littoral states are also a part of this plot against Iraq, and the UAE is playing a more powerful role than Saudi Arabia in hatching plots against Iraq," Khazali told the Arabic-language al-Iraqiyah news channel.
Khazali added that Israel’s Mossad is operating in several provinces in northern Iraq, including Sulaymaniyahy, and runs a "joint base” with the CIA and Mossad at Baghdad airport.
"Mossad is attempting to use some defectors of certain Iraqi parties to increase clashes and the Ba'athis are also one of the main pivots to provoke unrest in Iraq,” he said.
U.S. President Donald Trump reacted to the attack on the Iranian consulate in Karbala by retweeting an original Twitter post by Saudi Arabia’s London-based Iran International TV network, which posted footage of the attack.
On Monday, Zionist foreign minister Israel Katz took sides with the attackers on the Iranian diplomatic premises in Karbala, accusing Iran of what he called "murdering demonstrators in Iraq.”
He also claimed that Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and commander of its Quds Force Major General Qasem Soleimani were behind repression of Iraqi demonstrators.
General Soleimani made headlines last July, when he delivered a blistering response to an all-caps tweet addressed to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, in which Trump had issued a military threat against the Islamic Republic.
The IRGC commander is widely seen as a strategist and adviser in the counter-terrorism operations against Takfiri terrorists in Syria and Iraq.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemns the attack by some demonstrators on the Consulate General of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the holy city of Karbala, and reaffirms the ministry’s commitment to the inviolability of diplomatic missions guaranteed by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the need not to endanger their security,” a ministry statement said.
The ministry said diplomatic missions in Iraq have been established on bilateral agreements, adding that they need to be respected and their security must not be endangered.
"The security of foreign missions and consulates is a red line and no encroachment would ever be permissible,” the statement noted.
The rioters reportedly scaled the concrete barriers surrounding the diplomatic complex in Karbala late on Sunday and spray-painted scurrilous writings on the perimeter’s walls.
Some of them threw stones and burned tires around the Iranian consulate building, prompting Iraqi security forces to fire in the air to disperse the crowd.
Reports said no serious damage was inflicted on the diplomatic mission building and the Iranian staff and diplomatic employees were uninjured.
On Sunday evening, Qais Khazali, the leader of the Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, which is part of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), said the occupying regime of Israel and the UAE are playing "a bigger role than the U.S. and Saudi Arabia” in the protests, which have gripped the country.
"Israel plays a more powerful role than the U.S. in the unrest and the Persian Gulf Arab littoral states are also a part of this plot against Iraq, and the UAE is playing a more powerful role than Saudi Arabia in hatching plots against Iraq," Khazali told the Arabic-language al-Iraqiyah news channel.
Khazali added that Israel’s Mossad is operating in several provinces in northern Iraq, including Sulaymaniyahy, and runs a "joint base” with the CIA and Mossad at Baghdad airport.
"Mossad is attempting to use some defectors of certain Iraqi parties to increase clashes and the Ba'athis are also one of the main pivots to provoke unrest in Iraq,” he said.
U.S. President Donald Trump reacted to the attack on the Iranian consulate in Karbala by retweeting an original Twitter post by Saudi Arabia’s London-based Iran International TV network, which posted footage of the attack.
On Monday, Zionist foreign minister Israel Katz took sides with the attackers on the Iranian diplomatic premises in Karbala, accusing Iran of what he called "murdering demonstrators in Iraq.”
He also claimed that Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and commander of its Quds Force Major General Qasem Soleimani were behind repression of Iraqi demonstrators.
General Soleimani made headlines last July, when he delivered a blistering response to an all-caps tweet addressed to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, in which Trump had issued a military threat against the Islamic Republic.
The IRGC commander is widely seen as a strategist and adviser in the counter-terrorism operations against Takfiri terrorists in Syria and Iraq.