UPDATE - Iraq recalls its ambassador to Tehran over Iranian rocket attacks on Erbil

UPDATES ALL STORY AND HEADLINES WITH RECENT STATEMENT OF RECALLING OF AMBASSADOR FROM TEHRAN

By Ahmed Asmar

ANKARA (AA) - The Iraqi Foreign Ministry on Tuesday recalled its Ambassador to Tehran Nasir Abdel-Mohsen over recent Iranian rocket attacks on targets in Erbil, northern Iraq.

The ministry said in a statement said the ambassador was recalled for consultations after the Iranian rocket attacks on northern Iraq.

In an earlier statement, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry also summoned Abu Al-Fadl Azizi, Iran’s charge d'affaires in Baghdad, over the Iranian rocket attacks.

The ministry handed him a note of protest which included Iraq's condemnation of the Iranian attacks on areas of Erbil, capital of the Iraqi Kurdish Region (KRG), Iraq’s official news agency reported.

The ministry called the attack "a blatant violation of Iraq's sovereignty, sharply contradicting the principle of good neighborliness and international law."

The Iraqi government earlier also condemned Iran’s attacks on Erbil, calling them an act of aggression and a violation of its sovereignty.

Early on Tuesday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had fired a barrage of ballistic missiles at positions of "terrorist groups" in Syria and Iraq late Monday.

The IRGC claimed to have destroyed a local headquarters of Israeli spy agency Mossad in Erbil.