A statement by the Iraqi government said today, Sunday, that it had requested a "frank and clear" clarification from Iran through diplomatic channels regarding a ballistic attack on Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

The Iraqi Ministerial Council for National Security said after a meeting to discuss the attack, which was launched from Iranian territory, that Iraq "is waiting for a position from the Iranian political leadership in rejecting the attack."

And earlier today, the Kurdistan Counter-Terrorism Service announced - in a statement - that Erbil was attacked at dawn by 12 ballistic missiles fired from outside the country from the east, and targeted a neighborhood near the American consulate, without causing casualties.

Reuters quoted a US official as saying that the missiles were launched from Iran.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard later announced in a statement its responsibility for the attack, indicating that it targeted "the strategic center of Zionist conspiracy and evil."

The Ministerial Council statement stated that "the missile attack that was launched from Iranian territory and targeted the Iraqi city of Erbil is an attack on the principle of good neighborliness between Iraq and Iran, and the historical relationship that binds the peoples of the two neighboring countries, as well as a violation of international laws and norms."

The statement added that "Iraq had previously announced its refusal to violate its sovereignty and use its territory to settle scores between countries and entities."

Iraq's security and sovereignty

In the Iraqi reactions, Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi said that the attack that targeted the city of Erbil and terrorized its residents is an attack on the security of the Iraqi people.

Al-Kazemi added in a tweet that the Iraqi security forces began investigating this attack, pledging to address any prejudice to the security of Iraq's cities.

In turn, the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced the missile bombing on Erbil and the targeting of citizens' homes, and considered it an attack on Iraq's security and a flagrant violation of its sovereignty and the stability of its people.

For his part, the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, said that Iraqi territory should not be used as an arena for political and military conflicts, describing the attack as a dangerous precedent that threatens Iraq's security and sovereignty.

He also called for an investigation into the allegations of the presence of Israeli sites in Erbil and for a protest note to be submitted to the United Nations and the Iranian ambassador, while ensuring that the attacks are not repeated.

In turn, the head of the Sovereignty Alliance in Iraq, Khamis al-Khanjar, condemned the missile attack and called on the Iraqi forces to take a unified stance against it.

In international reactions, the US State Department condemned, in a statement to Al-Jazeera, what it described as the outrageous attack on the US Consulate in Erbil, and said that the Iraqi and Kurdish authorities were investigating the incident.