U.S. President Donald Trump and his French counterpart, President Emmanuel Macron, have agreed on the need for northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Shiite-led Baghdad to resolve their Kurdish independence efforts-linked differences through dialogue, according to the White House.
The Trump administration’s opposition to the independence referendum approved by northern Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has prompted the Kurds to consider “revising” its mutually beneficial relationship with the United States, according to the region’s former president.
Iraqi troops and Iran-backed Shiite militia forces launched a new offensive against Kurdish Peshmerga forces in northern Iraq on Thursday. The Kurds reported taking artillery fire from the advancing forces.
Mohamadi Gulpaigani, chief of staff to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Tuesday that by attacking the Kurds in Iraq, Shiite militia guided by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) thwarted a joint Israeli-Kurdish-American plot to create a “second Israel.”
Christians living in the Nineveh Plains, who only just returned home after the defeat of the Islamic State, are once again on the move, forced to flee as Kurdish fighters clash with Iraqi government forces north of Mosul.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson continued his tour through the Middle East and South Asia, joining Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in Baghdad, Iraq, on Monday.
State Department Spokeswoman Heather Nauert continued efforts to tamp down the flames threatening to ignite northern Iraq in war Friday.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi threatened in an op-ed published by the New York Times (NYT) this week that he is willing to use military force to keep his country’s autonomous Kurdistan region from breaking away from Baghdad.
Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, the Kurdistan regional government representative to the United States, spoke with Breitbart News Daily SiriusXM host Alex Marlow on Thursday regarding the thousands of Kurds fleeing Kirkuk following the Iraqi Army invasion of the city after an independence referendum.
The borders in Mosul that separate the Iraqi army from troops loyal to northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) will “remain” as they were before the start of the successful U.S.-backed operation to push the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) out of the city, announced the Kurdish Peshmerga Ministry.
State Department Spokeswoman Heather Nauert gave an update Tuesday on the difficult situation in which American diplomats find themselves in Iraq as two of their putative allies settle into an armed face-off that threatens to escalate into yet another chapter in the country’s 14-year civil war.
Advancing Iraqi troops, backed by Iran-allied Shiite militias, are reportedly coercing “thousands” of residents to abandon the Kurdish-held multi-ethnic city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq, a testament to the ongoing altercations triggered by Iraqi Kurdistan’s independence referendum last month.
President Donald Trump and his State Department issued their first official responses to the latest flare-up of inter-ethnic violence outside Kirkuk, Iraq, in the fallout from Iraqi Kurdistan’s controversial independence referendum Monday afternoon.
Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton spoke to Breitbart News Daily Sirius XM host Alex Marlow Monday, coming out strongly in support of Iraqi Kurdistan in its bid for independence and criticizing American ties to the Iraqi national government, which he described as “dominated by Iran.”
Major General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the notorious Quds Force division of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has reportedly been seen in Iraq advising Shiite militias in their attack on the Kurdish Peshmerga, a major U.S. battlefield ally against the Islamic State.
A Baghdad court has reportedly issued arrest warrants for at least three Kurdish officials from northern Iraq’s autonomous region in an apparent attempt to coerce the Kurds to cancel the outcome of the overwhelming “yes” vote for independence.
The Shiite-led government in Baghdad has warned that Iraq is teetering on the brink of civil war over its autonomous Kurdistan region’s refusal to cancel the outcome of its independence referendum.
U.S.-supported Iraqi government troops and Iran-allied Shiite militiamen have reportedly retaken the “last” Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) bastion in northern Iraq, marking the latest sign that the jihadist group’s so-called caliphate in the region is dwindling.
With Turkey’s president by his side, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani pledged Wednesday that they would ensure borders in the region remain unchanged after the recent Kurdish independence referendum in Iraq.
Following the overwhelmingly successful turnout in last week’s Kurdistan Independence Referendum, Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ), who has long been an advocate of the Kurdish people, introduced a bill in the House of Representatives supporting an independent Kurdish state.
A group of Sunni Arab tribal leaders has voiced support for the non-binding independence referendum passed by northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region this week, denouncing Shiite-led Baghdad’s opposition.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq has reportedly refused to hand over control of its international crossings to Shite-led Baghdad, which has vowed to seize authority over the borders of its autonomous region with the help of neighboring Iran and Turkey.
Representatives from various ethnoreligious minority groups in Iraq – including Christians, Yazidis, and Turkmen – expressed distress towards Kurds voting “yes” to Iraqi Kurdistan’s independence this week, with some saying the referendum was “illegal” and “forced.”
Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton joined SiriusXM host Raheem Kassam and co-host Steve Bannon on Thursday’s Breitbart News Daily to talk about Kurdish independence and the future of Iraq.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday said Israel should “review” its support for Iraqi Kurdish independence, warning the Jewish state’s support for the bid could negatively affect diplomatic ties between Ankara and Jerusalem.
Iraq’s prime minister on Tuesday ordered the Kurdish region to hand over control of its airports to federal authorities or face a flight ban, as the Kurds claimed victory for the “yes” vote in an independence referendum rejected by Baghdad and Iraq’s neighbors.
The majority of Iraqi Kurdistan’s population voted “yes” to independence, a move that has provoked Iran and Turkey to threaten military action in retaliation.
Widely feared risks of “unrest” expressed by the United States and other countries opposed to the independence referendum held by northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) failed to materialize Monday, the day of the vote.
Ambivalence swirls around Russia’s support for the September 25 independence referendum to be held by the autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq, argues an analysis published by the Kurdish news agency Rudaw.