Iraqi Kurds Never Forget Iran’s Support, KRG PM Says
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani praised Iran’s support for the Iraqi Kurdish people during attacks by the Daesh (ISIS or ISIL) terrorist group and said the Kurds will never forget Tehran’s backing.
Speaking at a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Erbil, the Iraqi Kurdistan’s capital, on Tuesday, Barzani described bilateral relations between Iran and the KRG as very significant and called for closer cooperation in various areas, including economy and trade.
Barzani further pointed to Iran’s support for Kurds during the Daesh terrorists’ invasion of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, saying that the people of Kurdistan will never forget the support.
Zarif, for his part, hailed the ties between Iran and the Republic of Iraq as well as the KRG as “age-old, outstanding, and constructive” and said the trade relations are expanding.
Heading a high-ranking political and economic delegation, Zarif arrived in Erbil this morning after visiting the Iraqi capital of Baghdad and meeting with top officials of the Arab country.
Daesh militants made swift advances in much of northern and western Iraq over the summer of 2014, after capturing large swaths of northern Syria.
However, a combination of concentrated attacks by the Iraqi military and the volunteer forces, who rushed to take arms after top Iraqi cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani issued a fatwa calling for fight against the militants, led to the collapse of the Daesh.
In November 2017, the self-proclaimed caliphate of Daesh collapsed after Syrian and Iraqi armed forces and their allies managed to recapture the terror group’s last strongholds in the two Arab countries.
