ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia’ al-Sudani on Tuesday directed security and intelligence agencies to pursue and prosecute the perpetrators of the “unjustified” attacks on the Al Rasheed Hotel as well as the US Embassy in Baghdad.

A series of airstrikes on Monday night targeted Baghdad’s upscale Al-Rasheed Hotel, the United States Embassy headquarters in the capital, and the Majnoon oil field in Basra.

In response to the attacks, Sudani directed “all security and intelligence agencies to pursue and track down those responsible and bring them to justice without delay so that they receive their fair punishment,” according to a statement issued by the premier’s military spokesperson Sabah al-Numan.

The premier also ordered negligent parties who “failed to perform their duties” be held accountable.

“The security of the state and the safety of its citizens are a red line that cannot be crossed,” Numan cited Sudani as saying, warning that the offensives undermine Iraq’s security and stability.

Similar attacks on US interests and hotels housing foreign nationals in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region have previously been claimed by pro-Iran Iraqi militias, often operating under the umbrella of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI).

Many factions within the Islamic Resistance in Iraq have been officially incorporated into the Iraqi state security apparatus as part of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).

Also on Monday, several strikes on PMF positions in Iraq’s Anbar province killed at least eight, as part of a wider US-Israeli campaign against Iran and its affiliated militias in the region.

In the statement, Numan dubbed the attacks on the PMF “treacherous”.

According to data compiled by The New Region, at least 35 members of Iran-aligned Iraqi militias have been killed since the onset of the US-Israeli war on Iran late February.

As the conflict intensifies, pro-Iran PMF factions have become increasingly involved, targeting US bases and the Kurdistan Region, which in return has invited more airstrikes on the PMF, making it even more difficult for Baghdad to maintain a balance in its relations with both Iran and the United States.