TEHRAN – Turkey said on Wednesday it would not hesitate to take action in Syria’s Afrin district and other areas unless the United States withdrew support for a Kurdish-led force there, but Washington denied such plans and said “some people misspoke”. Turkish President Erdogan has repeatedly warned of an imminent incursion in Afrin after Washington […]

TEHRAN- Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi said Tuesday government measures in areas disputed with the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) serve the best of the Kurds. His remarks came during a meeting between al-Abadi and the head of the UN mission in Iraq, Jan Kubis, Anadolu Agency reported. The meeting tackled government measures to impose the […]

Iraq’s Supreme Federal Court has ruled that no region or province could secede from the homeland after an unconstitutional Kurdish referendum that ended in failure but brought the country to the brink of a new crisis.  The court said it took the decision on Monday in response to a government request to put an end […]

TEHRAN  – Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani on Sunday confirmed his intention to step down on Nov. 1 and asked the Kurdish parliament to take measures to fill the presidential power vacuum. The region’s parliament, which is meeting in the Kurdish capital Erbil, was told that Barzani had sent a letter saying he would not […]

TEHRAN,– The Kurdish Movement for Change (Gorran) party on Sunday called on northern Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) President Masoud Barzani and Vice President Kosrat Rasul to resign. “They have to resign from their posts. At the same time, the Cabinet should be abolished, too,” party spokesman Shorsh Haji told a news conference, calling for […]

TEHRAN– Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is in Iran on an official visit, said the recent decision by Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region to hold an independence referendum was taken in consultation with the Israeli spy agency Mossad. Speaking at a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani, in Tehran on Wednesday, Erdogan […]

TEHRAN  – Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani called on the leaders of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region to make up for their wrong decisions, saying Iran, Turkey and Iraq are obligated to take “serious and necessary measures” to avert any change in the region’s political borders. Speaking at a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart Recep […]

The military brass of Iran and Iraq have met and held talks amid a controversial referendum in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region.   Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Baqeri on Wednesday received his Iraqi counterpart Major General Othman al-Ghanmi, who arrived in Tehran at the head of a military delegation earlier […]

TEHRAN – German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel says that the Kurdistan dream of independence will harm peace in the Middle East. “The Kurdish referendum on independence from Iraq could escalate the tensions in the region and destabilize it,” German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Tuesday. “ٌٌٌWe express deep concerns as this move may further […]

TEHRAN – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, exchanged views about the latest developments in the Middle East region, including an independence referendum in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region on Monday. In a telephone conversation late on Sunday, Rouhani and Erdogan underlined that Tehran and Ankara enjoy common stance against the referendum. […]