Masrour Barzani: We are part of an alliance that Iran does not welcome

the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) premier stated "We are part of an alliance that Iran does not like, so the Iranian missile attack on Erbil is a kind of political pressure to pull us out of this alliance."

Masrour Barzani told a conference in Dubai on Tuesday in response to a Reuters report on Iran's missile attack on Erbil and its connection to normalizing relations with the Zionist regime. ""We are part of an alliance. This missile strike is a kind of political pressure to pull us out of this alliance, because Iran believes that if a new government is formed in Iraq, the influence it has gained in recent years in this country will go away."

He stressed that the KRG calls for an international investigation into Iran's attack on Erbil, and that Baghdad is investigating the incident.

Barzani went on to add: "The Kurdistan Regional Government has also asked the Iranian side to participate in this investigation to determine that this bombing was unjustified."

Barzani also said: "No talks have been held with the Israelis in the Kurdistan Region regarding natural gas and the news published in this regard is baseless."

Reuters reported earlier, quoting Iraqi and Turkish officials, that the new plan for Iraqi Kurdistan to export gas to Turkey and Europe with the help of Israel had angered Iran and prompted Tehran to bomb the region using ballistic missiles.

Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said early this month it struck Israeli "strategic centers" in Erbil in retaliation for an Israeli air raid that killed two of its members in Syria.

The attack was shortly after Iraq's federal court deemed an oil and gas law regulating the oil industry in Iraqi Kurdistan unconstitutional and demanded that Kurdish authorities hand over their crude supplies.

Speaking at an industry event in the United Arab Emirates, Barzani said the court ruling was political and that Kurdistan Region is negotiating with the Iraqi federal government to preserve what he called their constitutional rights.

Kurdistan Region has given assurances to its trading partners and international organizations that operate in the autonomous region that it remains committed to honoring their contracts, Barzani added.

Reporter's code: 50101

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