ISTANBUL

Iran said on Tuesday that it launched an attack targeting the US base at Erbil airport in northern Iraq.

Ground-to-ground missiles were used in the attack to target the US forces stationed at the airport, Iran's official news agency IRNA reported, citing the Iranian army.

Tehran's announcement came as the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) announced earlier Tuesday that six Peshmerga fighters were killed, and 30 others were injured in an Iranian ballistic missile strike on military positions in Erbil.

Nechirvan Barzani, head of the KRG, condemned the Iranian attack as a “hostile act.”

Hostilities have escalated since US and Israeli strikes on Iran began on Feb. 28, with Tehran retaliating with repeated drone and missile strikes targeting Israel and Gulf countries hosting US military assets.