ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Kurdistan Region president condemned foreign states settling scores on Iraqi soil. The country must not be turned into a battleground, his office said late Friday in a statement after the deaths of senior Iraq and Iranian military commanders in a United States MQ-9 Reaper drone strike in Baghdad early on Friday morning.
The drone strike killed Qasem Soleimani, commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy head of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), locally known as the Hashd al-Shaabi, and eight members of their forces. The killings are the latest in a string of escalation actions that are sparking fears of a proxy US-Iran war breaking out in Iraq. An American contractor was killed in an attack on the K-1 military base in Kirkuk on December 27. The US retaliated with airstrikes against the group it blamed for the attack, Iraq’s Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia, killing 25 militiamen. After their funerals, members of the PMF and their supporters stormed the US embassy compound in Baghdad.
The US has advised its nationals to leave Iraq and is deploying an additional 3,000 troops to the Middle East.
These events “indicate there is a further exacerbation of the situation in Iraq,” read the statement from President Nechirvan Barzani’s office. “Therefore, we reject all steps by other countries to settle scores on Iraqi soil and violate Iraqi sovereignty.”
Iraq must not be a “battleground for other countries to settle their disputes,” Barzani added, urging foreign powers to open a dialogue.
The Kurdistan Region president noted that both Soleimani and Muhandis played a role in the war against the Islamic State (ISIS) and warned against giving ISIS space to regroup.
“The continuation of these complications, actions and reactions, will push Iraq and the region towards an abyss and an uncertain future; it will also lead to the resurgence and strengthening of extremist and terrorist groups, such as ISIS,” he stated.
Soleimani was the mastermind of Iran’s strategy against ISIS in Iraq. He had said that without Iran, Erbil may have been invaded by ISIS when the group emerged in 2014. Kurdistan Region officials have acknowledged Iran’s role in defending the Region against the extremist group.
The US maintains that killing Soleimani was a defensive measure. US Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters on Friday evening that the risk of inaction exceeded the risk that killing him might dramatically escalate tensions with Tehran. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted on Friday that the decision to kill Soleimani was in “response to imminent threats to American lives.”
Pompeo spoke to Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani late on Friday to discuss the matter. "I thanked him for his steadfast partnership. We agreed on the need for continued, close cooperation," the diplomat said on Twitter.
Barzani added via Twitter that he and Pompeo "agreed on the importance of deescalating tensions in Iraq through restraint and dialogue."
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