Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on Wednesday that Tehran shared intelligence with Iraq about what it said were activities of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
Iran has said its Revolutionary Guards attacked Israel's "spy HQ" in Iraq in the city of Erbil on Monday. Iraq later denied that there was any such spy center in the country.
What happened in Erbil “had to do with the elements and agenda of the Mossad of the Israeli regime,” Amirabdollahian said as he explained that Iran acted in retaliation for its attacks against Iran during a public interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland conducted by journalist Fareed Zakaria.
“Any kind of action that is carried out by the Zionist regime against our people, the Republic of Iran will respond to it vigorously,” Amirabdollahian said.
“We hit the Mossad base in one spot in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, and we hit it with precision missiles. This doesn’t mean that we hit and targeted Iraq. We targeted Israel, which remains a common enemy of both of us,” Amirabdollahian stressed.
“Our security people are examining the matter and sharing information with the security advisors of Iraq. Our information confirmed that the spot belonged to the Mossad, and there was no mistake that was made by us,” he said.
Iran has a legitimate right to defend itself against Israel, which is taking advantage of the Kurdistan region to act against Tehran, Amirabdollahian said. He spoke amid heightened tensions between Israel and Iran over the Gaza war and attacks by the Iranian proxy group the Houthis against Red Sea Cargo ships.