Iran strikes violation of Iraq sovereignty: Speaker

By Amer al-Hasani

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AA) - Iraq's parliament speaker on Wednesday condemned the Iranian retaliatory missile strikes on Iraqi bases housing U.S. forces, describing them as a "violation of Iraq's sovereignty".

"As we condemn the Iranian violation of Iraq's sovereignty today at dawn, we reiterate our absolute objection to the conflicting parties to use the Iraqi territory to settle their conflicts," Mohammed al-Halbousi said in a statement following the Iranian retaliatory strikes against U.S. troops in Iraq.

Al-Halbousi called on the conflicting parties to self-restraint and favor wisdom to avoid escalation and war, and to preserve the stability and security of Iraq.

Early on Wednesday, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles against the U.S. military and coalition forces in Iraq, as a retaliation over the assassination of Iran's Quds Forces leader, Qasem Soleimani.

This comes after the Iraqi parliament voted on Sunday to expel American troops from the country while the U.S. President Donald Trump refused to do so threatening Baghdad with sanctions.

Tensions are high in the region after a U.S. drone strike last week killed Soleimani in Iraq.

Following the Iranian strikes, Iran's Foreign minister Mohammad Javid Zarif confirmed that Iran took the measure in self-defense and did not seek to escalate the confrontation.

* Ahmed Asmar contributed to this report from Ankara.