Iran’s attacks will do great damage to reputation in Kurdistan: Amb. Galbraith

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – Peter Galbraith, a former US diplomat, told Kurdistan 24 in a recent interview that Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) missile attack that killed four civilians last Monday did great damage to its reputation in the Kurdistan Region. 

“The people in Kurdistan are going to hate Iran and it's going to turn the Iraqi Government, which is one of Iran's closest allies in the world, against Iran,” he said. 

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In a sign of deteriorating economic relations, the Erbil Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Friday night issued a statement, urging Kurdistan Region traders to “suspend” the purchase of Iranian products.

The former US ambassador also said it is “not going to do any great damage to the development of Kurdistan and if that's what [Iran’s] goal is, it's not going to accomplish it.” 

Kurdish officials have suggested that Iran wants to hinder the Kurdistan Region’s development with the attack.

“All it's doing is killing innocent people who had nothing to do with politics, but it's not going to stop the construction of Kurdistan,” Amb. Galbraith said, adding that other people will continue developing the Region after businessman Peshraw Dizayee was killed.

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Moreover, he added that killing a major businessman and attacking a friendly country is a gross violation of international law. In addition, he said Iran knew Dizayee’s home was no Mossad base. “What they were doing was clearly nonsense.”

Therefore, the veteran diplomat said the Kurdish government should put more pressure on Baghdad after they recalled their ambassador.  “You can't fire missiles into the peaceful territory of another country and kill its citizens, especially when they had absolutely nothing to do with politics or with anything that was going on in Iran.”

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Moreover, he said the decision by Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani to cancel their meetings with the Iranian FM in Davos sends a strong message to Iran. “The Iraqi government has to be sensitive when a foreign country launches an attack on Kurdistan because it's part of Iraq.” 

Iraq has also filed a complaint at the UN Security Council. However, the former envoy noted it's unclear if the security council will take action against Iran, but he relented that it is unlikely that many will back Iran.

“There are not going to be supporters of Iran's actions in terms of launching an attack that kills a prominent businessman and other innocent civilians and that literally has nothing to do with any anti-Iranian activity or with any Israeli activity.”

The former US Ambassador further noted that the Iranian attack may be related to domestic politics in Iran, or he said Iran wanted to respond to the ISIS attack in Kerman, Iran, on Jan. 4, that killed at least 91 people. 

Moreover, he said the fact that Iran “civilians in Pakistan and civilians and Kurdistan who had nothing to do with those attacks and it does seem that they you know, there was a desire for revenge to show that Iran would take action after the killing of 94 people in Kerman.”

He also said previous attacks by Iran that targeted Iranian Kurdish opposition groups in Koya were different. 

“That's not a legitimate thing to do and it's also a violation of international law, but at least those people are engaging in activities in Iran. This attack had nothing to do with Iran or anti-Iran activity, had nothing to do with politics, had nothing to do with Israel or Gaza.”

Editing by Dastan Muwaffaq