Multiples rockets were reportedly fired toward the U.S. consulate located in Erbil, a city in northwestern Iraq. Several missiles hit the consulate building, a source close to the matter told the Associated Press.
“One of the officials said the ballistic missiles were fired from Iran,” the AP reported. “The attack comes several days after an Israeli strike near Damascus, Syria killed two members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.”
The AP added that “Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency quoted Iraqi media acknowledging the attacks, without saying where they originated.”
Axios is also reporting that a source at the U.S. State Department claimed that “[there] is no damage or casualties at any U.S. government facility.”
“We are looking into the reported attack near Erbil,” a Pentagon spokesperson told Axios.
The State Department spokesperson said the incident “is being investigated by the government of Iraq and the Kurdish Regional Government.”
“We condemn this outrageous attack and display of violence,” the spokesperson added.
Videos of the alleged attack were shared on Twitter:
The Jerusalem Post provided more details of the attacks, also based on “Independent open-source intelligence (OSINT) accounts.”
The videos were “reportedly shared by Iranian civilians showing missiles being fired from Iran at the time of the attack, with at least one of the videos being geolocated to a site in Khasabad in the East Azerbaijan province of Iran.”
The Post added, “No party has taken responsibility for the missile fire as of yet. Iran has threatened retaliation in recent days” or the aforementioned alleged Israeli air strike.
In reaction to the news, Michael Doran, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, tweeted: “If this report is accurate, and Iran indeed launched ballistic missiles at US targets in Erbil, then this is an act of war, pure and simple.”
“The United States has no choice but to respond appropriately,” he added.
“I presume that the Iranian attack on Erbil was a response to Israel killing two Iranian colonels in Damascus,” Doran said in a separate tweet. “The message from Tehran to the Americans is: ‘Rein in the Israelis, or we will escalate against you.’ I fear the White House will indeed blame the Israelis and not Iran.”
Andrew McCarthy, a former U.S. assistant attorney and columnist for National Review, added, “Could we possibly stop stupid s*** about how people are supposedly hopped up for war with Iran? Iran is at war with us — what we ‘want’ is not the point. Question is: What do we do about it?”
“It would be foolish to assume Iran not coordinating with patron angry over West’s aid to Ukraine,” he added. “This is a test by our enemies: Iran executing, Russia urging, China watching. Biden needs to show resolve.”
Congressman Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) called for the U.S. to stop “the Russian mediated negotiations with Iran,” in reference to the ongoing Iranian nuclear deal negotiations.
HD Editor’s Note: Why Is This News Biblically Relevant?
Amir Tsarfati, responded to the escalation reporting on Telegram: “I have no other way to say it but: Iran just attacked an American base. That means: IRAN ATTACKED AMERICA!”
“In the past the Iranian claimed that the Israeli Mossad has a training base right there so they can easily package this as a retaliation to the killing of two IRGC senior officers by Israel during its strike in Syria,” he added.
Tsarfati expanded on this in a recent article, writing about Israel’s strike on Syria last week.
“[Last week] saw Israel attacking Iranian targets in the suburbs of Damascus. Israel developed intel on an underground facility for precision missiles,” the Behold Israel Founder and President explained. “They learned where it was located and the activities that were involved there. The facility itself was manned by Iranian-backed militias and was overseen by two IRGC terrorists. Israel launched its attack destroying the facility and killing the two IRGC men.”
“Iran is enjoying someone else being viewed as the world’s biggest villain,” he continued. “The US is on the verge of a second nuclear agreement with the Islamic Republic, this one worse than the first. At the same time, the IAEA is reporting that the country is near all that it needs for a bomb.”
In Isaiah 17, we are told about a future event in which Damascus, the capital city of Syria, will be completely destroyed.
Although we are not told how this will happen or by whom, Syria has become a hotbed of activity in the Middle East that those familiar with Bible Prophecy have been watching very closely.
As Behold Israel previously explained, “Biblically speaking, a day is coming where the city of Damascus is going to be decimated. The prophet Isaiah stated, ‘The burden against Damascus. Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city, and it will be a ruinous heap.’ (Isaiah 17:1) As Iranian aggression continues to excel, and as they’re hellbent on the destruction of the Jewish state, which in return causes Israel to focus their military power on the city of Damascus, we can see the fulfillment of this prophecy more immanent than ever before.”
Interestingly, Damascus’s destruction could also be a catalyst to the Ezekiel 38-39 war in-which Russia, Iran, Turkey, and others come together from the north, with weaponry supplied by Russia, to attack the Jewish state.