Iran attacked Kurdish guerrilla groups in Iraq on Thursday, as the war in the Middle East engulfed the entire region, AFP reports, writes UNN.
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Tehran said it "struck Iraqi-based Kurdish groups amid reports that the United States is trying to arm Iranian Kurdish guerrillas to infiltrate Iran," the publication writes.
According to the official, the strikes, which killed a member of an exiled Iranian Kurdish group, came after warnings from Iranian officials.
"Separatist groups should not think that a breeze has blown and try to take action," said Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council.
"We will not tolerate them in any way," he said.
The strikes were further evidence of how the war is drawing parties into the region and beyond.
Australia has deployed two military aircraft to the combat zone, and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he could not rule out his armed forces' involvement in the fighting.
The war also drew in NATO member Turkey after a missile launched from Iran was destroyed by NATO air defenses as it headed for its airspace. Although a Turkish official said the missile was likely aimed at a British base in Cyprus, Turkey summoned Iran's ambassador over the incident.
Iran denies missile launch towards Turkey after NATO interception05.03.26, 09:43 • [views_4048]
The conflict even reached the coast of Sri Lanka, where a US submarine sank an Iranian warship, the first torpedoing of a vessel by Washington since World War II. At least 87 people were killed in the strike, Sri Lankan officials said, with another 61 missing. 32 sailors were rescued, many injured, said Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath.
"Mark my words: the US will bitterly regret the precedent it has set," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said of the attack, which he called "an atrocity at sea."
The official Iranian news agency IRNA reported that 1,045 military personnel and civilians have died since the start of the war, figures AFP could not independently verify.
The conflict, which erupted on Saturday with US-Israeli attacks that killed Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, quickly spread, disrupting global shipping and energy markets and sowing panic and chaos in previously safe Gulf countries.
In Lebanon, AFP photos showed buildings in ruins and plumes of black smoke hanging over Beirut after Israeli strikes targeting the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah. AFP reporters in Tehran heard fighter jets flying in the sky west of the city and several explosions as Israel launched a new barrage.
Early Thursday, AFP reporters in Jerusalem heard explosions after warnings of an approaching Iranian missile barrage, but residents were quickly allowed to leave their shelters.
Across the border in Lebanon, Israel said its forces struck "several command centers belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization" in southern Beirut.
Lebanon's state National News Agency (NNA) reported that a separate pre-dawn Israeli drone strike hit an apartment in Beddawi, a Palestinian refugee camp near Tripoli, killing senior Hamas official Wassim Atalla al-Ali and his wife.
Hezbollah's leader on Wednesday vowed to escalate the fight against Israel, saying the group had attacked Israeli positions as far as Tel Aviv at least 15 times.
"We are facing aggression... our choice is to resist it until the ultimate sacrifice, and we will not surrender," Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said in his first speech since the latest round of fighting began.
Lebanese authorities said at least 72 people have died, 437 have been injured, and 83,000 have been forced to leave their homes since Monday.
Iran responded by striking US-linked interests in its Gulf neighbors, as well as energy infrastructure.
As AP notes, Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard claimed an attack on Thursday on a US oil tanker in the northern Persian Gulf. The statement, announced on Iranian state television, did not elaborate, but the publication writes that it may be related to an attack off the coast of Kuwait earlier that day, in which, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations of the British military, a tanker was attacked.
13 people, seven of whom are civilians, have died in the Gulf countries since the start of the war, including an 11-year-old girl in Kuwait, AFP writes.
Qatar said on Thursday that it was evacuating residents living near the US embassy in Doha, after previously announcing that it had prevented attacks on Hamad International Airport.
The United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar said on Wednesday that they had intercepted Iranian missiles, including a drone that was intended to hit the massive Saudi oil refinery of Ras Tanura.
The war could lead to a "prolonged period of instability" for the global economy, International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva warned on Thursday.
Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway in the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of the world's oil supply passes, with oil tanker transit down 90%, according to market analytics firm Kpler.
The war is also harming tourism in the region, which has become a popular destination for holidaymakers from around the world, as flights are canceled and travelers are stranded or hastily repatriated.