US: Iran's Claims of Targeting Mossad Base in Iraq Are Baseless

On Tuesday, January 23, the US State Department posted on its Persian account on 'X': 'The Islamic Republic's missile attack on Erbil only resulted in civilian casualties. Therefore, we stand with Iraq in calling the Iranian regime's claims of targeting a Mossad base baseless.' The post also stated: 'Iran knows, Iraq knows, and the world knows that the IRGC's missile attack on Erbil, Iraq, resulted in the deaths of four civilians, including a newborn, and injured at least 17 others; the rest of the Islamic Republic's claims in this regard are nothing but lies.' The US State Department added: 'Now, the Iranian regime's propagandists are trying to prove their claims by manipulating images and spreading misinformation, and people should know that the regime in Tehran will not shy away from any lies to cover up its destabilizing behavior.' On the evening of January 15, the IRGC announced multiple missile attacks on Erbil, claiming to target a Mossad base. Iraqi officials criticized the IRGC's missile attack on their country, strongly rejecting Tehran's claims of targeting the Mossad base and filed a complaint with the UN Security Council. A few days after the attack, the Tasnim news agency, affiliated with the IRGC, published a 'photoshopped' image and claimed in a text titled 'Who Did the IRGC's Missiles Target in Erbil?' that Pishro Dezai, a businessman killed in the missile attack in Erbil, had connections with 'Mossad.' Shortly after, social media users published the original image from which the Tasnim news agency's photoshopped image was created, and the agency deleted the content from its website, announcing through a video that the image was taken from 'Press TV.' Matthew Miller, a spokesperson for the US State Department, responded to the IRGC's missile attacks on Erbil, calling the Islamic Republic a 'financial supporter of terrorism' and a cause of instability in the region. Reactions to the publication of a 'fake' image: The Islamic Republic's agents have neither the art of fighting nor of Photoshop. Amir-Abdollahian denied the killing of a child in the IRGC attack in Erbil, Iraq. The Netherlands summoned the Islamic Republic's ambassador to protest the killing of a Dutch child in the IRGC's attack on Erbil. The spokesperson for the Kurdistan Regional Government stated: The Islamic Republic does not have the courage to attack Israeli bases.