White House ‘strongly condemns’ Iran’s attacks on Kurdistan Region—and its malign actions more broadly

“The United States strongly condemns the drone and missile attack launched against Iraq’s Kurdistan region earlier today.”
Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor to the President, speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, July 11, 2022. (Photo: Nicholas Kamm/AFP)
Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor to the President, speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, July 11, 2022. (Photo: Nicholas Kamm/AFP)

WASHINGTON DC, United States (Kurdistan 24) – Following Iran’s ballistic missile and drone attacks on the Kurdistan Region on Wednesday, Washington issued two statements condemning those assaults, which have killed at least nine people and injured another 32.

One condemnation came from the State Department. Its criticism was strong, but focused on those attacks, while it warned Iran against any such assaults in the future, as the Iranian regime has threatened.

Read More: US issues strong warning to Iran against missile, drone attacks on Kurdistan Region

The White House issued its own condemnation of the Iranian attacks, and it was broader. It condemned the attacks in terms similar to the State Department, but it also included a denunciation of other aspects of Iran’s malign behavior, including its provision of drones to proxies in the Middle East, as well as to Russia for use in its aggressive, unprovoked war in Ukraine.

Thus, the White House appeared to reflect a wider concern about Tehran’s malign behavior, somewhat similar to a point made recently by Karim Sadjadpour, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Writing on Saturday in The Washington Post, Sadjapour listed a wide range of issues over which the US and Iran are at odds, as he called for a broader US policy that goes beyond merely renewing the 2015 nuclear accord.

White House Statement

The strength of the White House statement appears in its first lines: it was issued in the name of Jake Sullivan, National Security Adviser to President Joe Biden. Unlike the State Department’s statement, the statement from the White House was issued in the name of a senior official, rather than a spokesperson.

Thus, Sullivan began, “The United States strongly condemns the drone and missile attack launched against Iraq’s Kurdistan region earlier today.”

“We stand with Iraq’s leaders in the Kurdistan region and Baghdad in condemning these attacks,” he added, as he denounced Iran’s leaders who “continue to demonstrate flagrant disregard not only for the lives of their own own people, but also for their neighbors” and for “core principles” enshrined in the UN charter.

Sullivan suggested a likely motive for Iran’s cross-border attacks on the Kurdistan Region, one rooted in its ongoing domestic unrest.

“Iran cannot deflect blame from its internal problems and the legitimate grievances of its population with attacks against its neighbors,” Sullivan stated, before denouncing other aspects of Iranian aggression.

Tehran’s “flagrant use of missiles and drones against its neighbors, as well as its providing of drones to Russia for its war of aggression in Ukraine and to proxies throughout the Middled East region, should be universally condemned,” Sullivan said.

And he concluded, “The United States will continue to pursue sanctions and other means to disrupt Iran’s destabilizing activities across the Middle East region.”