A missile attack on sites in Iraq was said to be targeting “secret Israeli bases” according to Iran’s state TV.

Up to 12 missiles hit Erbil, capital of the northern Iraqi Kurdish region, in the early hours of Sunday morning. Iraqi officials said they had been fired from inside Iran.

Several missiles were said to have hit the new US consulate building in the city and caused some damage in early reports. The US has denied any of its buildings were hit in what it condemned as an "outrageous attack".

The Kurdistan 24 TV building was damaged. Images show debris and broken glasses littering its studio and offices.

Iran’s state TV claimed that the missiles had been aimed at “secret Israeli bases”.

Tehran’s military and terror spearhead, the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) seemed to lay claim to the attack, saying: “A strategic centre for conspiracy and mischiefs of the Zionists was targeted by powerful precision missiles fired by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.”

An Iraqi official told Associated Press the missile attack was revenge for the deaths of two members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in an alleged Israeli air strike in Syria last Monday.

The following day Iran said: “Guard colonels Ehsan Karbalaipour and Morteza Saidnejad were martyred — a crime committed by the Zionist regime during a rocket attack in the suburbs of Damascus, Syria,” adding the warning Israel “will pay for this crime”.

However, the Hezbollah-linked Al Mayadeen news website said what it called the “operation against the Mossad” had “nothing to do with the latest Israeli attack in Syria”.

Al Mayadeen claimed the attack was “a response to previous Israeli attacks against Iran that were launched from Iraqi Kurdistan”.

The attack comes as a deal to lift sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme is expected soon.

Condemning the "terrorist attack" in a post on Facebook, the prime minister of the Kurdish region, Masrour Barzani said Erbil “will not bow to the cowards”.