BAGHDAD, Mar 25 (AFP): Iraq said late on Tuesday it would summon the US charge d'affaires and the Iranian ambassador after deadly strikes blamed on their countries, as Iraqi authorities granted targeted former paramilitary groups the "right to respond".
Iraq has been pulled into the war sparked by US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, and which has since engulfed much of the region.
The former paramilitary Hashed al-Shaabi coalition, part of Iraq's regular armed forces but which also includes brigades belonging to Iran-backed groups, blamed the United States for the deadliest strike so far on Iraqi territory, which killed a commander and 14 other fighters.
In the autonomous Kurdistan region, a ballistic missile attack killed six of the regional force's fighters, known as the peshmerga.
The region accused Iran of conducting the first such deadly attack on Kurdish security forces since the war began.
Neither the United States nor Iran commented on the accusations, but in a statement released late on Tuesday, Iraq said its foreign ministry would summon both representatives to "deliver formal notes of protest regarding the attacks".
It also emphasised the necessity of maintaining balanced relations both internationally and regionally to prevent Iraq being "drawn into areas of conflict".
Iraq has long been a proxy battleground for the United States and Iran, and has struggled to balance diplomatic ties with both countries.
Since the war began, pro-Iran armed groups have claimed responsibility for attacks on US interests in Iraq and across the region, while strikes have also targeted these groups, including state-linked positions.
In the statement from the prime minister's office, however, Iraq granted former paramilitaries within the official armed forces the right to "respond to military attacks" by drones and aircraft that targeted their headquarters.
