Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday denied that Tehran was behind a drone attack that targeted the office of Masrour Barzani, the prime minister of Iraq’s Kurdistan region.
Earlier in the day, the Kurdistan Counter-Terrorism Service said that drones fired from Iranian territory targeted Barzani’s office and also the home of the region’s intelligence chief, though no casualties were reported.
“Nothing justifies the reckless attack on PM Barzani’s office. Kurdish friends should be vigilant against false-flag ploys to sow discord between neighbors,” Araghchi wrote on X.
“We protected our Kurdish friends against Saddam and DAESH (ISIS), and we’re thankful for security they’ve provided on our border,” the Iranian diplomat added.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei also suggested the attack could have been a “false flag,” calling it a “highly suspicious development.”
While Iran has launched attacks against Kurdish opposition and militant groups based in Iraqi Kurdistan, it is known to have cordial relations with the Kurdistan government.
According to a report from Axios, Barzani’s cousin, Nechirvan Barzani, the president of Iraqi Kurdistan, helped facilitate a backchannel between the US and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and through the channel, the IRGC told the US that it supported the Iranian negotiators. President Trump also said on Monday that the US had established a channel with the IRGC, though an IRGC official denied the claim, calling it a “delusion.”
