Speaking to Mehr News Agency on Saturday, Adviser to Iran’s Parliament speaker, Mansour Haghighatpour, said the attack on Iran’s consulate in Basra, south of Iraq, is “completely suspicious.”

He voiced confidence that the global Arrogance was behind the attack.

“These countries are, on the one hand, seeking to cause tension and create crisis in the Iraqi society to disrupt the country’s stability, and on the other hand, they are trying to undermine the relations between Iran and Iraq,” he said.

He further stressed that the Iraqi government must identify, arrest, and punish the perpetrators of the attack.

The Iranian consulate’s building in Basra was one of several government buildings and offices that protesters set on fire on Friday. The attack, which Iran’s Foreign Ministry described as “brutal”, caused serious financial damage to the building, but fortunately, none of the staff members of the Iranian consulate had been harmed thanks to preemptive measures taken by the diplomatic mission after it received threats a day earlier, according to Bahram Ghasemi.

Iran strongly condemned the attack and summoned the Iraqi ambassador to the Foreign Ministry to hand over a note of protest over security forces’ negligence in protecting the consulate building.

The US Department of State Spokeswomen Heather Nauert on Friday condemned violence against diplomats in the Iraqi southern city of Basra. The city has been gripped with protests that have turned deadly in recent days.

Heather Nauert said in a statement that under the Iraqi constitution, the right to peaceful protest and the duty to protect public and private property go hand in hand.

“The United States condemns violence against diplomats, including that which occurred today” in Basra, said Nauert.

The statement comes after an angry mob stormed the Iranian consulate in Basra Friday evening before setting the building alight.

Only one day earlier, demonstrators attacked several government buildings in the city, including Basra’s provincial headquarters and the state television broadcast building.

“We call on all parties, including security forces and protesters, to uphold the right of peaceful protest and to protect diplomats and their facilities,” she added.

Since July 9, Iraq’s central and southern provinces – especially Basra – have been rocked by protests to demand better public services, more job opportunities and an end to government corruption.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Ghasemi announced that following the fire attack on the building of the consulate general of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Basra by a group of provoked individuals, Iraqi ambassador to Tehran was summoned to Iranian foreign ministry late on Friday and to whom Iran’s strong protest against the negligence of Iraqi security forces in safeguarding the diplomatic building was expressed.

“In this meeting, the Persian Gulf Director General of Iranian Foreign Ministry [Mohammad Farazmand] voiced surprise over immobility of Basra police and said that despite the promises given by the Iraqi officials through diplomatic channels reassuring about the safety of Iran’s consulate general which was threatened by the provocation of some suspicious elements, the Iraqi government did not deliver on its promises,” recounted Ghasemi.

In this meeting, also, the Iraqi ambassador was required to immediately convey Iran’s strong protest to his respective government and Iran’s call for identification, arrest and trial of the perpetrators of this move.

It is a couple of days that Iraqis in southern areas of Iraq are demonstrating against lack of public services in poor areas and the angry protestors have set many government buildings and diplomatic missions in Basra on fire.