ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The Iraqi government on Tuesday announced that it will summon the US and Iranian envoys to Baghdad to “deliver a formal protest note” about attacks on Kurdish Peshmerga forces and the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).

The decision to summon the US charge d’affaires and the Iranian ambassador to Baghdad was made during an emergency meeting of the National Security Council, chaired by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani. 

During the meeting, the foreign ministry was directed to summon the envoys “to deliver a formal protest note concerning the attacks targeting Popular Mobilization Forces bases … and bases of the Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga forces,” Sabah al-Numan, spokesperson for the prime minister, said in a statement.

Iraq will also deliver a complaint to the UN Security Council against the “acts of aggression,” according to Numan, where Baghdad will urge for an end to the attacks. 

A decision was also made to “confront and repel” attacks on PMF “using all available means, in accordance with the principle of the right to respond and defend oneself,” Numan added. 

An Iranian ballistic missile attack on the Peshmerga's bases in Erbil province’s Soran administration early Tuesday killed at least six Peshmerga and injured 30 others, the Peshmerga ministry announced.

The attack was widely condemned by Kurdish leaders, who have called on the federal government to ensure the prevention of such attacks. 

Pro-Iran Iraqi militias have claimed dozens of attacks on the Kurdistan Region, including multiple strikes on Peshmerga bases, since the start of the Iran war, under the pretext of targeting American positions.

Many of the Iran-backed factions responsible for the attacks enjoy legal status within Iraq due to their official incorporation into the state security apparatus as part of the PMF.

But PMF bases have also been targeted by US-Israeli strikes since the war with Iran erupted. On Tuesday, an airstrike on the PMF headquarters in Anbar province killed 15 members, including the group’s Anbar operations commander. 

After that attack, the PMF said that it holds “the political forces fully responsible for confronting these repeated American violations and for taking clear and decisive stances that preserve the country's sovereignty and put an end to these dangerous transgressions.”