Tehran faces questions over Erbil as Hormuz and Red Sea risks crowd diplomacy
Iraq demanded Iran's position on the Erbil drone strike, Türkiye and Iran discussed Hormuz and the ceasefire, and new Yemeni civilian deaths sharpened Red Sea security concerns.
Geopolitics··Morning
Baghdad asks Tehran for its position on the Erbil strike
Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein telephoned his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi and asked for Iran's official position on the drone strikes on the residence and private office of Kurdistan region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani. According to a statement from Iraq's foreign ministry, Hussein said the attack would have negative repercussions on Iraq's security and on regional stability. Araghchi said he was surprised that such an attack had taken place and had no information that it was launched from Iranian territory, and said nothing justified such actions given the relations between the Iranian government and the Kurdistan Regional Government. Iran's foreign ministry had earlier condemned the strike and called it a highly suspicious development requiring a vigilant and precise response. Both accounts are official statements by the parties; no independent confirmation of where the drones were launched has been published.[1]
Hormuz and the ceasefire share one telephone call
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi discussed where the negotiations on reopening the Strait of Hormuz and on keeping the ceasefire now stand. The account rests on Turkish foreign ministry sources reported by the state-run Anadolu Agency and carried by Middle East Monitor. Neither ministry published terms, proposals or a timetable. The report rests entirely on one side of the call: Anadolu Agency is state-run, the sourcing is Turkish foreign ministry sources, and no publisher outside that orbit has reported the conversation. What both ministries do say, on that account, is that they are discussing the strait and the ceasefire together. That places the waterway inside the same negotiating file as the fighting rather than beside it.[2]
Türk counts 17 civilian deaths in Yemen
UN human rights chief Volker Türk said at least 17 civilians have been killed in Houthi attacks on government-held areas since 6 August, and called on all parties to de-escalate and to spare the Yemeni people further misery. 4 crew members, 3 of them Pakistani and 1 Indonesian, were killed when a cargo ship was attacked in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on 11 August. 6 people including 1 child were injured in a missile strike on the Jaw al-Naseem displacement camp in Ma'rib on 7 August, and 3 port workers were killed and 4 injured in attacks on Al-Mokha port in Ta'izz on 9 August; further strikes there on 14 and 15 August are being verified. Türk said all parties must abide by international humanitarian and human rights law, and OHCHR spokesperson Shabia Mantoo urged them to halt immediately any action that risks returning Yemen to full-scale conflict.[3]
