Iran has rejected a claim by the Netherlands that a Dutch infant was killed in Tehran-ordered air strikes this week on Iraqi Kurdistan.
Foreign Minister Hanke Bruins Slot said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on January 19 that the Dutch government had summoned the Iranian ambassador following the death of the infant in Irbil as a result of missile strikes by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) on January 15.
The Foreign Ministry has given no further details on the child, though Bruins Slot said the government was helping the family involved.
The IRGC struck the capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, targeting what it said was an Israeli "spy headquarters." The attack has been condemned by Iraq and Western powers, including the United States.
The strikes came amid growing concerns that the war between Israel and Hamas, which has been designated by the United States and European Union as a terrorist organization, may escalate and engulf the entire region.
Iraqi and Kurdish authorities said the strikes targeted the home of well-known Kurdish businessman Peshraw Dizayee, who was killed along with his wife and two children.
Baghdad recalled its ambassador from Tehran the day after the attack and lodged a complaint against its neighbor with the United Nations Security Council.
"We have no evidence of the death of a child in the terrorist base of Mossad in northern Iraq," Iranian foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told Bruins Slot, according to an Iranian statement, referring to the Israeli intelligence agency.
The Iranian statement came hours after Bruins Slot said she had spoken to Amir-Abdollahian "for clarification" about the death of the baby, whom she said was less than a year old.
"The death of the young child...is truly heartbreaking," Bruins Slot wrote, "strongly" condemning the IRGC strikes.
The IRGC said the strikes in Iraq were in response to the killing of several "Resistance Axis" commanders, including IRGC generals, by Israel. The so-called Resistance Axis refers to Iran's network of allies in the region.
Three IRGC generals were killed in suspected Israeli strikes in Syria in December, including Iran's top commander in the country, Seyyed Razi Mousavi.
The IRGC also suggested that the strikes in Syria were in retaliation for the deadly twin suicide bombings in Kerman on January 3 that killed nearly 100 people and wounded scores at a memorial for top commander Qassem Soleimani.
SEE ALSO: Iran Says Several Suspects Detained Over Suicide Bombings As Country Mourns VictimsThe Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the bombings.