ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iran is dealing with the Kurdish independence referendum in the same way it engaged with world powers when it secured the landmark nuclear agreement two years ago, by reaching a win-win deal, Iran’s deputy foreign minister said on Thursday.
Ibrahim Rahimpur said that even though the war against ISIS has not concluded yet, Israel is trying to bring about another crisis to the region through the Kurdish referendum, something he said his country will not let happen.
He said Iran prevented ISIS from spreading in the region, adding that Tehran will deal with similar plots in the future in the same way “with the difference that ISIS was not from us, but the Kurds are from us.”
“We are looking into a way to solve the problem that is facing us following the referendum of Kurdistan in Iraq that would resemble the win-win [deal] of the P5+1,” Rahimpur told Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency, as he made reference to the nuclear deal made between Iran and five major powers in 2015 including the United States.
He continued to say that such a deal would make sure that the Kurdistan Region, Iran, Turkey and Iraq would win an equal share of the cake. The three states have all expressed their opposition to the Kurdish vote that saw 92 percent of the Kurdish people voting yes to leave Iraq.
Commenting on the visit by the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Tehran on Wednesday where the two sides accused Israel of being behind the Kurdish vote, Rahimpur said that Iran had not had a more significant and higher profile visit for the last four years.
While Israel has expressed publicly that they support the establishment of an independent Kurdish state, it denies that it played any role in holding the vote.
Rahimpur said that the Kurdish people in Iraq have some concerns over their rights being violated in Iraq that could be addressed by the Iraqi government. He argued that when such internal problems are addressed by Iraq, then if the Kurdish leaders still insist on their plans to separate, it proves one fact – that there is a foreign agenda at play.
Turkey, Iraq and Iran have all come together to take coordinated measures against Erbil after the vote held on September 25, including a ban on international flights to and from the Kurdistan Region, military drills at the Kurdish borders, and threats to close their land borders, in addition to threats issued by Turkey to stop the flow of Kurdish oil exports to the international market.
Head of National Security and Foreign Policy of the Iranian parliament told reporters on Thursday that the September 25 vote crossed a red line set by Iran.
“What is happening in the Kurdistan Region, from the Iranian perspective, has crossed one of the red lines, and therefore we are not going to remain at a standstill,” Alaeddin Boroujerdi told reporters in Damascus.
Iranian media outlets covered the Kurdish referendum extensively on Thursday in light of President Erdogan’s visit to Tehran. Many of them found the newly-founded cooperation between Tehran and Ankara essential to counter what they described as plans to cause further “instability” in the region.
Turkey’s military chief visited Tehran before the arrival of the Turkish president, paving the way for military operations between the two sides, despite their deep-rooted differences in war-torn Syria.
Soleiman Afshar, Iran’s former Ambassador to Azerbaijan, wrote for Jahan-e-Sanat newspaper that while it is a significant achievement for Iran to have reached a military deal for the first time in its history with Turkey, a NATO member, it is important for Tehran to remain skeptic over its relations with Ankara that may change for better or worse at any moment.
Ibrahim Rahimpur said that even though the war against ISIS has not concluded yet, Israel is trying to bring about another crisis to the region through the Kurdish referendum, something he said his country will not let happen.
He said Iran prevented ISIS from spreading in the region, adding that Tehran will deal with similar plots in the future in the same way “with the difference that ISIS was not from us, but the Kurds are from us.”
“We are looking into a way to solve the problem that is facing us following the referendum of Kurdistan in Iraq that would resemble the win-win [deal] of the P5+1,” Rahimpur told Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency, as he made reference to the nuclear deal made between Iran and five major powers in 2015 including the United States.
He continued to say that such a deal would make sure that the Kurdistan Region, Iran, Turkey and Iraq would win an equal share of the cake. The three states have all expressed their opposition to the Kurdish vote that saw 92 percent of the Kurdish people voting yes to leave Iraq.
Commenting on the visit by the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Tehran on Wednesday where the two sides accused Israel of being behind the Kurdish vote, Rahimpur said that Iran had not had a more significant and higher profile visit for the last four years.
While Israel has expressed publicly that they support the establishment of an independent Kurdish state, it denies that it played any role in holding the vote.
Rahimpur said that the Kurdish people in Iraq have some concerns over their rights being violated in Iraq that could be addressed by the Iraqi government. He argued that when such internal problems are addressed by Iraq, then if the Kurdish leaders still insist on their plans to separate, it proves one fact – that there is a foreign agenda at play.
Turkey, Iraq and Iran have all come together to take coordinated measures against Erbil after the vote held on September 25, including a ban on international flights to and from the Kurdistan Region, military drills at the Kurdish borders, and threats to close their land borders, in addition to threats issued by Turkey to stop the flow of Kurdish oil exports to the international market.
Head of National Security and Foreign Policy of the Iranian parliament told reporters on Thursday that the September 25 vote crossed a red line set by Iran.
“What is happening in the Kurdistan Region, from the Iranian perspective, has crossed one of the red lines, and therefore we are not going to remain at a standstill,” Alaeddin Boroujerdi told reporters in Damascus.
He earlier met with the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad where the two said that they reject the Kurdish vote, Syria's state-run SANA news agency reported.
Turkey’s military chief visited Tehran before the arrival of the Turkish president, paving the way for military operations between the two sides, despite their deep-rooted differences in war-torn Syria.
Soleiman Afshar, Iran’s former Ambassador to Azerbaijan, wrote for Jahan-e-Sanat newspaper that while it is a significant achievement for Iran to have reached a military deal for the first time in its history with Turkey, a NATO member, it is important for Tehran to remain skeptic over its relations with Ankara that may change for better or worse at any moment.
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