World News
Baghdad orders an inquiry after two drones strike the Kurdistan prime minister's office in Erbil
By Staff Writer | 18 August 2026
Kurdish officials say two explosive laden drones were launched from across the Iranian border overnight and that nobody was hurt. Tehran called the attack suspicious. Iraq's prime minister has appointed a committee to find the launch points.
Two drones struck the private office of the prime minister of Iraq's Kurdistan region and the home of the region's intelligence chief overnight into Monday, according to the regional authorities, who say both were launched from Iranian territory. The regional counter terrorism directorate reported no casualties.
Two Hadid-110 type explosive-laden drones were launched from across the Iranian border toward the private office of the Kurdistan region prime minister and the residence of the Parastin Agency director
the Kurdistan Counter-Terrorism Directorate
Masrour Barzani, the regional prime minister, said the buildings had been identified as targets following an investigation by the regional counter terrorism unit, and called the attack a dangerous escalation and a direct threat to the security of the region. His words were issued through a social media account and are given here in reported form rather than quoted.
Baghdad appoints a committee
The office of Iraq's prime minister, Ali Al-Zaidi, said on Monday that he had "directed the formation of an investigative committee tasked with identifying the sources and launching points of the attack that targeted the office of" Mr Barzani. No terms of reference or reporting date have been published.
Since the war began, the Kurdistan region has been struck more than a thousand times by Tehran and by armed groups aligned with it inside Iraq, on the count carried by both Gulf sources.
The region hosts American troops, foreign oil companies and opposition groups exiled from Iran. Drones have been intercepted repeatedly over Erbil, and others have reached the exiled groups and American interests. Tehran accuses those groups of serving Western and Israeli purposes and has continued to strike them, including during a regional ceasefire announced in April that later broke down. Most of them have left their bases in the region since the fighting started. On 17 July, drone and rocket strikes killed nine people near Sulaimaniyah.
Tehran calls it a plot
Iran's foreign ministry issued its own statement on the attack. Its spokesman, Esmaeil Baqaei, described it as a highly suspicious development requiring vigilance and careful attention, and said all sides should work to thwart what he called the plots of the enemies of Iran and Iraq aimed at harming relations between the two countries. The ministry said its foreign minister spoke by telephone with his Iraqi counterpart the same day.
Tom Barrack, the American special envoy to Iraq, said "we strongly condemn the attack on our friend and valued Kurdish partner" and called it unacceptable and a direct threat to regional stability. He added that the United States fully supported the Iraqi prime minister's leadership in restoring Iraq's full sovereignty and in ensuring that all weapons and security forces remain under the authority of the Iraqi state.
That last point is the live question in Baghdad. Under American pressure, Iraq has set 30 September as the date by which armed groups aligned with Tehran must give up their weapons, a deadline that falls with the end of the mission of the American led coalition against Daesh. Some of those groups have said they will cooperate. Others say the question should not be settled under pressure from Washington.