Kurdistan Region will not become a ‘source of threat’ to Iran: President Barzani

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Region will not become a “source of threat” to neighboring Iran, President Nechirvan Barzani said on Monday, amid claims by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that Erbil houses secret Mossad bases. 

“We have emphasized in the past and now that we will not become a source of threat to our neighbors, especially Iran,” Barzani told reporters while attending a memorial ceremony for the Kerman bombing victims in the Iranian consulate in Erbil. 

Barzani’s remarks come amid threats by the IRGC to launch attacks on the Region’s capital of Erbil for allegedly housing secret Mossad bases, as hostilities surge between regional arch-foes Iran and Israel against the backdrop of the Israel-Gaza war. 

“The Islamic Republic of Iran is an important neighbor of ours and we want to continue to have good relations with them. I think our relations with the Islamic republic are good and we hope they will improve,” Barzani said. “The Islamic Republic of Iran has helped us.” 

In late December, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) spokesperson Peshawa Hawramani reiterated that there are no Israeli bases in the Kurdistan Region, a day after a pro-Iran militia claimed it had struck an Israeli base in Erbil with a drone. 

In March of 2022, Iran attacked Erbil with twelve ballistic missiles, striking the residence of a well-known Kurdish businessman. The IRGC claimed responsibility for targeting “the strategic center of the Zionist conspiracy and evil by point-to-point missile.”

Kurdish authorities vehemently rejected this accusation. A fact-finding committee set up by the Iraqi parliament to investigate the claims found no evidence of spying activities in the area attacked. 

92 people were killed and 284 injured after two explosions rocked Kerman city in southeastern Iran on Wednesday, near the cemetery where Iranian top commander Qasem Soleimani is buried, as thousands held a commemorative ceremony on the fourth anniversary of his assassination. 

The Islamic State (ISIS) later claimed responsibility for the blasts. 

“The terrorist ISIS is a regional phenomenon that exists in our region. We must continue to cooperate and work with each other to defeat these terrorists,” Barzani said about the attack while thanking Iran for its continuous support to Iraq and the Kurdistan Region in the war against ISIS.