Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani has condemned an Israeli letter to the UN Security Council demanding immediate action against resistance groups launching retaliatory strikes on key targets across the occupied territories, as a “pretext to justify aggression against Iraq.”

“The message sent by the Zionist entity (Israel) to the UN Security Council represents a pretext for aggression against Iraq and aligns with its ongoing efforts to expand the war in the region,” Sudani said in a statement on Tuesday.

He emphasized the Baghdad government’s rejection of threats against his country, saying, “Decisions of war and peace are solely within the authority of the Iraqi state, and no party is allowed to infringe upon this right.” 

Israel has already warned the Iraqi government that unless it reins in the attacks by the resistance groups, it faces Israeli strikes on its territory, according to reports.

The Iraqi prime minister also reaffirmed his country’s position of staying out of conflict, while maintaining its principled stance of seeking an end to Gaza and Lebanon crises, and providing humanitarian aid to Palestinian and Lebanese peoples.

On Monday, Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar sent a letter to the UN Security Council, asking the body to pressure the Iraqi government to end attacks by resistance fighters in the Arab country against the Tel Aviv regime’s interests.

The Israeli letter highlights what the Baghdad government considers to be a double standard, as the Tel Aviv regime has ignored Security Council Resolution 2728, adopted in March, which calls for an end to the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of anti-terror fighters, has been conducting numerous operations against sensitive targets lying across the Israeli-occupied territories since October 7 last year, when the Zionist entity began waging a bloody onslaught against the Gaza Strip.

At least 43,972 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been killed in the brutal Israeli military onslaught so far.

The coalition has also carried out retaliatory attacks against the US occupation bases across Iraq and neighboring Syria due to Washington’s unbridled political, military, and intelligence support for Israel’s atrocities in Gaza.