Iran general ‘issued stark warning’ to Iraqi Kurds over Kirkuk
A senior Iranian military commander repeatedly warned Kurdish leaders in Iraq to withdraw from the oil-rich city of Kirkuk or face an onslaught by Iraqi forces and Iranian-backed militias, Kurdish officials said.
Maj Gen Qassem Suleimani, commander of foreign operations for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, travelled to Iraq’s Kurdish region to meet Kurdish leaders three times this month before Baghdad’s campaign to recapture territory from the Kurds across the north.
Gen Suleimani’s presence on the front lines highlights Tehran’s sway over policy in Iraq.
The commander met leaders from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of the two main Kurdish political parties, in the Iraqi Kurdish city of Sulaymaniyah the day before Iraqi prime minister Haider Al Abadi ordered an advance on Kirkuk, a party politician said.
His message was clear: withdraw or risk losing Tehran as a strategic ally.
“Abadi has all the regional powers and the West behind him and nothing will stop him from forcing you to return to the mountains if he decides so,” the politician quoted Gen Suleimani as telling the party leadership.
The Iranian general evoked late Iraqi president Saddam Hussein’s attack on a Kurdish rebellion in 1991, when almost the entire Kurdish population fled northern Iraq to the mountains, the politician said.
“Suleimani’s visit was to give a last-minute chance for the decision makers not to commit a fatal mistake,” said the politician, who like others interviewed in this story declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Commanders of the Iraqi Kurdish forces, known as the Peshmerga, have accused Iran of orchestrating the Shiite-led Iraqi central government’s push into areas under their control, a charge senior Iranian officials have denied.
But Iran has made no secret of its presence in Iraq.
“Tehran’s military help is not a secret any more. You can find Gen Suleimani’s pictures in Iraq everywhere,” said an official close to Iranian president Hassan Rouhani.
“Now, beside political issues, Kirkuk’s oil is a key element for Iran, which is an Opec member. Control of those oil fields by Iran’s enemies would be disastrous for us. Why should we let them enter the oil market?”
Kirkuk fell to Iraqi government forces on Monday. Their offensive followed a referendum last month in which the Kurdish region voted to secede from Iraq against Baghdad’s wishes.
Iraq’s two Kurdish parties have been at odds over the referendum and the approach to the crisis in Kirkuk, which the Kurds consider the heart of their homeland.
The PUK, a close ally of Iran, accused its rival, the Kurdistan Democratic Party, of putting the Kurds at risk of military intervention by pushing hard for the vote, which won wide approval for independence.
Gen Suleimani has for years been allied to the PUK, but the referendum has drawn him even closer to Kurdish politics and expanded Iran’s reach in Iraq beyond the central government in Baghdad.
The Iranian general is no stranger to conflicts in Iraq, which fought a war with Iran in the 1980s. He has been seen in footage on the front lines, and Iran has long helped Baghdad carry out its military strategy through mainly Shiite forces.
Before the September 25 referendum, Gen Suleimani suggested to Kurdish leaders that holding a vote on secession – which Iran feared would encourage its own Kurdish population to agitate for greater autonomy – would be risky.
“The Iranians were very clear. They have been very clear that there will be conflict, that these territories will be lost,” said one prominent Iraqi Kurdish politician who met Gen Suleimani ahead of the referendum.
On October 6, barely a week
Suleimani’s visit was to give a last-minute chance for the decision makers not to commit a fatal mistake POLITICIAN from Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
after the vote, Gen Suleimani attended the funeral of PUK leader Jalal Talabani. Again, he wanted to make sure his closest Kurdish allies understood the dangers of not withdrawing from Kirkuk, officials said.
A senior Iranian diplomat in Iraq and an official in Iran close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s office said Gen Suleimani met Kurdish leaders after Talabani’s funeral and urged them to withdraw from Kirkuk. In exchange, the commander said Tehran would protect their interests.
An Iranian source in Iraq meanwhile said Gen Suleimani was in Kirkuk two nights before the Iraqi government offensive for “a couple of hours to give military guidance”. Iraqi intelligence sources said Tehran sent a clear signal to the PUK.
“We understand from our sources that Iran played a decisive role in making the PUK choose the right course with Baghdad,” one Iraqi intelligence official said.
Tensions over the referendum and Kirkuk have deepened splits between the two main parties in northern Iraq. The KDP accused the PUK of betraying the Kurdish cause by capitulating to Iran and striking a deal to withdraw – something the PUK has strongly denied.