ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq — The United States says Iraq is a “sovereign” country, and Baghdad itself controls its airspace, dismissing claims that the US had greenlighted Israel to attack Iran using Iraq’s airspace.
This came hours after the Iraqi government announced that it had lodged a formal complaint to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the UN Security Council, condemning the reported Israeli breach of its airspace and labeling it a “flagrant violation” of Iraqi sovereignty.
"Iraq is a sovereign country. It controls its own airspace,” Matthew Miller, spokesperson of the US Department of State said during a press briefing on Monday. "The United States does not control Iraqi airspace.”
Asked about Iraq filing a lawsuit against Israel for violating its airspace to use it to attack Iran at the United Nations Security Council, Miller said " The U.S. did not participate in this attack in any way.”
"The U.S. Strategic Framework Agreement outlines our bilateral relationship with the Government of Iraq, and it does not address any questions of airspace, which are left to the Government of Iraq to determine," Miller added.
The Iraqi government has not directly accused the US of involvement in the operation and use of Iraqi airspace, but Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has directed the foreign ministry to “communicate with the American side regarding this violation, by the terms of the bilateral Strategic Framework Agreement and the US commitment to the security and sovereignty of Iraq.”
The Israeli military on Saturday targeted several military sites across three Iranian provinces in response to Iran’s ballistic missile attack on Israeli territory earlier this month. Tehran claimed that the damage from the attack was limited, but did announce that four of its soldiers were killed in the operation.
The Iranian army accused the US military in Iraq of allowing Israel to use the country’s airspace in the attack. Washington has stated that it did not participate in the operation.
Several Iraqi Shiite leaders and armed groups have already blamed the US, vowing retaliation, and renewing calls for the withdrawal of American troops from the country.
In a post on X, influential Shiite leader and cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said that Israel’s use of Iraqi airspace for a “terrorist war” on Iran was unacceptable and demanded a swift diplomatic response from Baghdad.
Failure to respond, he warned, could result in the government being penalized under the Law of Criminalizing the Normalization with the Zionist Entity, which prohibits Iraqi officials from engaging with Israel in any capacity.
Telegram
