Iran 'Defends' Strikes on Northern Iraq, in Letter to UN

A Kurdish flag is pictured amid the destruction caused by a reported Iranian rocket in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region. (Photo by SAFIN HAMED/AFP via Getty Images)
A Kurdish flag is pictured amid the destruction caused by a reported Iranian rocket in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region. (Photo by SAFIN HAMED/AFP via Getty Images)
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Iran 'Defends' Strikes on Northern Iraq, in Letter to UN

A Kurdish flag is pictured amid the destruction caused by a reported Iranian rocket in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region. (Photo by SAFIN HAMED/AFP via Getty Images)
A Kurdish flag is pictured amid the destruction caused by a reported Iranian rocket in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region. (Photo by SAFIN HAMED/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran told the UN on Thursday that it had no choice but to act in self-defense by striking Kurdish rebel groups in northern Iraq, state media reported.

The Iranian republic has launched a series of cross-border missile and drone strikes on Iranian-Kurdish opposition groups, based in Iraq, which it blames for stoking protests back home over the death of Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini.

"Iran recently carried out operations against terrorist groups in northern Iraq as it had no other choice than to use its natural right to defend itself in the framework of international law to protect its national security," Tehran's permanent representative to the UN wrote to the United Nations Security Council.

"The terrorist groups have recently intensified their activities and have illegally transferred large quantities of arms to Iran with the intention of staging terrorist operations," the letter read, according to state news agency IRNA.

Iranian-Kurdish groups have long inhabited areas of northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, previously waging an armed insurrection against Tehran.

Iran has repeatedly accused them of fomenting unrest in the country since Amini's death in September.

"They use Iraqi territory to plan, support, organize and carry out actions" against Iran, the letter said.

Tehran demands that "the perpetrators of terrorist crimes be tried by Iranian courts, the closure of command centers of terrorist groups and their training camps, and the disarmament of armed elements in northern Iraq," the letter said.

On Tuesday, Tasnim news agency reported that Iran's Revolutionary Guards carried out their latest cross-border missile and drone strikes, this time targeting the Kurdistan Freedom Party, one of the groups based in northern Iraq.

More than a dozen people were killed in similar strikes on Iraq's Kurdistan region in September.

In the letter, Iran's UN representative pointed to the need for an Iraqi military presence at the border with Iran, whilst affirming "full respect for Iraq's security and stability and commitment to its territorial integrity and sovereignty".

Iraq had said Wednesday it planned to redeploy federal guards along its border with Iran and Türkiye.



Israel's Netanyahu Heads to Hungary, Defying ICC Arrest Warrant

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, February 16, 2025. Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, February 16, 2025. Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
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Israel's Netanyahu Heads to Hungary, Defying ICC Arrest Warrant

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, February 16, 2025. Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, February 16, 2025. Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu begins a four-day visit to Hungary on Thursday, defying an International Criminal Court arrest warrant over allegations of war crimes in Gaza as Israel has expanded its military operation in the enclave.

As a founding member of the ICC, Hungary is theoretically obliged to arrest and hand over anyone subject to a warrant from the court but Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban made clear when he issued the invitation that Hungary would not respect the ruling.

Netanyahu is due to meet Orban ahead of a press conference at around 1000 GMT.

In Budapest, workers were constructing a stage in the Buda Castle on Wednesday, where Orban was scheduled to welcome Netanyahu in a ceremony with military honors on Thursday morning and security forces could be seen near the central Budapest hotel where Netanyahu will be staying, The AP news reported.

The visit will be only the second he has made abroad since the International Criminal Court issued warrants to arrest both him and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant last November, but details of his program have been limited apart from a planned visit to a Holocaust memorial.

He visited Washington in February to meet close ally US President Donald Trump. Neither Israel nor the United States are members of the ICC, with Washington arguing the ICC could be used for politically motivated prosecutions.

Orban invited Netanyahu to visit a day after the ICC issued its arrest warrant over allegations of war crimes in Gaza, where Israel launched an offensive following a devastating attack by thousands of Hamas fighters on the October 7 attack.

Since then, the Israeli campaign has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians and devastated the Gaza Strip, triggering protests worldwide and prompting South Africa to launch separate legal action in the International Court of Justice, a different body to the ICC, accusing Israel of genocide.