Iraqi PM rejects Kurdistan offer to freeze results, start dialogue during visit to Iran
“We will accept nothing but the cancellation of the referendum and adherence to the [Iraqi] Constitution,” Abadi said while on an official visit to Tehran.
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Thursday rejected the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) offer to freeze the results of the referendum on independence held on Sep. 25 to allow for dialogue to begin.
“We will accept nothing but the cancellation of the referendum and adherence to the [Iraqi] Constitution,” Abadi said while on an official visit to Tehran.
The KRG had urged that grave and dangerous circumstances facing Iraq and Kurdistan required all sides to “act responsibly in order to prevent further violence and clashes between Iraqi and Peshmerga forces.”
Following Abadi’s meeting with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei on Thursday, however, the latter expressed his support for the Prime Minister’s efforts to maintain the integrity of Iraq.
Khamenei praised the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an Iranian-backed Shia militia, for their involvement in the fight against “terrorists and their supporters,” calling them the “secret” for Iraq’s recent victories.
Iran was a vocal opponent of the Kurdistan Region’s independence vote and imposed sanctions in retaliation.
Since then, Qassem Soleimani, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) military commander, visited Kurdistan to convince Kurdish leaders to withdraw from Kirkuk before Shia militias and Iraqi forces launched their assault on the city on Oct. 16.
Accusing the US of having created the Islamic State (IS) as a means to “destroy” the Iraqi people and government, Khamenei warned Abadi “never to trust Americans” as they will “hit Iraq again when they have the opportunity.”
The KRG’s call to cease military operations against the Region and offer to freeze the results of the referendum were widely welcomed by anti-IS coalition partners, namely the US.
While the State Department indicated its support for the proposal, US House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan called on the Federal Government of Iraq to accept the initiative to de-escalate tensions.
The Kurdish leadership and many US officials have criticized Iran’s role in the attack, with some accusing Soleimani, of orchestrating the Hashd al-Shaabi and Iraqi forces’ ongoing military incursions on the Kurdistan Region, an accusation the Iranian officials deny.
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany