Iraq speaker condemns 'Iranian violation of Iraqi sovereignty'

The speaker of the Iraqi parliament, Mohammed al-Halbusi, on Wednesday condemned a salvo of retaliatory Iranian missile strikes on Iraqi bases housing, US-led troops, as a "violation of Iraqi sovereignty". Halbusi, the most senior Sunni Arab in Iraq's confessional power-sharing system, called for urgent measures to stop Iraq being turned into a proxy battlefield for outside powers, including Shiite Iran.

"While we condemn the Iranian violation of Iraqi sovereignty at dawn today... we confirm our absolute refusal to the conflicting parties to use the Iraqi arena to settle scores," he said.