President Barzani meets with Iran’s Raisi in Tehran

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani was received by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Monday, as he kicked off his high-level meetings in the capital Tehran.

“Both sides stressed developing Iran’s relations with Iraq and the Kurdistan Region based on the principle of good neighborliness and common interests, as well as raising the level of commercial trade and economic relations,” read a statement from the Kurdistan Region presidency following the meeting.

The importance of cooperation and support between Tehran, Erbil, and Baghdad to preserve regional security was also highlighted during the meeting, the statement added.

The two leaders discussed Tehran and Erbil’s historic ties, venues for increased cooperation, regional security, and the need to fully implement the security pact between Iraq and Iran and complete the disarmament of Kurdish exiled groups in the border areas.

The Iranian president stated that Barzani’s trip will be “a turning point in improving the level of political, security, economic and cultural relations,” according to a statement from Raisi’s office.

The Kurdistan Region and Iran enjoy good ties. During a forum in Sulaimani in April, Barzani said that Iran contributed to the economic “success” of the Kurdistan Region.

“We are confident in the goodwill and friendship of our Iraqi and Kurdish brothers, but considering the hatred of the enemies, including the Zionist regime, against the Iranian nation, we expect the government of Iraq and the Kurdistan region to absolutely prevent any abuse of the soil of this region against Iran by the elements of the Zionist enemy and anti-revolutionary elements,” the statement cited Raisi as saying.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has repeatedly struck Erbil with ballistic missiles in recent years, under the pretext of targeting Israeli Mossad bases and headquarters of anti-Iran groups. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has vehemently denied the existence of Israeli bases in the Kurdish capital.

The Kurdish president arrived in Tehran on Sunday in his fifth trip to Iran in ten years. He last visited the Islamic republic in August 2021 to attend Raisi’s inauguration.

He is accompanied by the Kurdistan Region’s Interior Minister Rebar Ahmed, Chief of Staff at the Presidency Fawzi Hariri, and several other senior officials.

But that relationship has been strained recently by Tehran’s cross-border attacks on exiled Kurdish groups and deadly missile strikes on locations that it alleged were Mossad bases in the Kurdistan Region.

Dilshad Shahab, the spokesperson for the Kurdistan Region presidency, said that, through this trip, President Barzani wants to reaffirm to Erbil’s allies that the Kurdistan Region will never become a source of threat to the interests of its neighbors, especially Iran.

“It is no secret that there has been a kind of coldness in these [Erbil-Tehran] relations in recent times; we want to be assured that the common interests of both sides outweigh the obstacles that may arise,” Shahab told Rudaw’s Sangar Abdulrahman.

A security pact signed between Iran and Iraq in March 2023 saw Baghdad agree to disarm Kurdish opposition groups and secure the border regions. Iran had threatened to use military action if Baghdad failed to fulfill the agreement. In September, Baghdad announced that it had disarmed the exiled groups and that offices previously used by the groups had been evacuated.

Iran has long accused the KRG of harboring opposition groups it considers threats to its national security and allowing them to use the border areas as a launchpad for attacks. Erbil has categorically rejected Tehran's accusations.

Updated on 02:04 pm

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