Missed this update couple days back..... so much fog....
The attack came a day after a report at
Axios noted that KRG President Nechirvan Barzani had been tapped by the US as a possible backchannel in diplomacy with Iran. Nechirvan and Masrour are related, and both come from the Barzani family that runs the KDP party, the largest Kurdish party in Iraq.
The role of Nechirvan was later confirmed in a second report at Iran International.
www.jpost.com
Iran's drone strike on Kurds may be warning over Trump administration's backchannel, analyst says
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi dismissed the drone attack on the office of the Kurdistan Democratic Party leader, posting on X/Twitter on Monday that “Kurdish friends” should be aware of “false-flag ploys” aimed at “sowing discord between neighbors.”
Two drones targeted the office of
Masrour Barzani, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) prime minister, and the home of the region’s intelligence chief in northern Iraq on Monday, the KRG security agency announced.
The attack was launched from Iranian territory, it said in a statement
“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. “We protected our Kurdish friends against Saddam [Hussein] and Daesh (ISIS), and we’re thankful for the security they’ve provided on our border.”
View: http://twitter.com/araghchi/status/2089420870217322578
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei doubled down on
Araghchi’s statements in comments to Iranian state media on Monday, describing the attack as “highly suspicious.”
“This development is highly suspicious and requires all sides to exercise vigilance,” he told IRNA, adding that he had information indicating that Iraqi intelligence was holding groups responsible for planning and carrying out the “sinister plots.”
Security analyst accuses Iran's response of being incomplete
Security analyst Roger Macmillan said that the response by the Iranian officials was lacking.
“The Kurdistan Counter-Terrorism Service didn’t just say ‘Iran did this.’ They named the munition type, two Hadid-110 drones, and stated a launch origin inside Iranian territory,” he explained.
“That’s a forensic claim, not a political one. A false-flag narrative needs to explain how a third party sourced and launched an Iranian-designated drone type from inside Iran’s own territory. Araghchi’s statement doesn’t engage with that detail at all; it simply asserts the incident is ‘suspicious’ and pivots to blaming unnamed others.”
The attack came after a report from
Axios published on Sunday claimed that the Trump administration used Iraqi Kurdistan President Nechirvan Barzani as a
back channel to speak with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Commander Ahmad Vahidi. A spokesperson later confirmed the report to
Iran International.
Macmillan said that the fact that the strike came within days of the confirmation indicated that the motive behind the attack was to punish KRG and warn its leadership against making further admissions going forward.
IRGC attacks Kurdish territories, 'Post' confirms
Erbil has seen frequent attacks from Iran since the outbreak of the war. A Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) report seen by
The Jerusalem Post claimed that between February 28 and August 1, the IRGC and affiliated groups were responsible for 423 attacks on five Kurdish organizations in the territory, resulting in 20 casualties. The
Post has also previously spoken with
Ardalan Mama, whose home was destroyed by an Iranian missile.
Since the outbreak of the war, Araghchi has frequently commented on the risk of alleged false-flag attacks. In March, he warned his Turkish counterpart of repeated false-flag operations aimed at undermining regional ties a day after NATO intercepted a ballistic missile fired from Iran over
Turkey, and only weeks ago he described a drone strike on Egypt’s Damietta Port as an Israeli false-flag operation.
“Egypt is considered a friend and important partner in the region, and its security constitutes an utmost priority for us. We must all remain vigilant toward Israeli schemes and “false flag” operations that aim to undermine regional peace,” he wrote. “The threat is clear, shared, and fears Muslim solidarity.”
Two drones targeted the office of Masrour Barzani, the Kurdistan Regional Government's prime minister, and the home of the region's intelligence chief in northern Iraq on Monday.
www.jpost.com
Scoop: Inside Trump's secret backchannel to Iran's Revolutionary Guard
In mid-May, U.S.
negotiators trying to reach a deal with Iran to end the war ran into a problem: They couldn't tell if the people across the table actually spoke for the country's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
- So Trump administration officials did something unconventional — they went around Iran's negotiators and reached out directly to IRGC leadership. The person they tapped for the backchannel was Nechirvan Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan region in Iraq, who had something very few others do: the trust of both U.S. and IRGC leaders.
Why it matters: The episode, which was detailed by three sources with direct knowledge and has not been previously reported, shows how tricky it's been for the U.S. to negotiate with a country where Washington isn't sure who exactly is in charge. The U.S. and
Iran did reach a memorandum of understanding, but it quickly collapsed.
- The Trump administration's key problem today and in any future negotiation will be to make sure it's talking to the people who are actually calling the shots. That also means finding mediators who are trusted by both the White House and the Iranian regime.
The big picture: The war upended Iran's leadership. The assassination of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other senior political leaders — and the 40 days of fighting that followed — dramatically strengthened the IRGC's grip on the levers of power, including national security and foreign policy decision-making.
- Uncertainty surrounding new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei's condition during the first few weeks of the war and his absence from public view further strengthened IRGC commanders.
Flashback: After an April 8 ceasefire and a summit in Islamabad days later, the U.S. and Iran tried to negotiate an end to the war.
- In early May, the White House felt it was closing in on a deal, but Iran delayed its response for more than 10 days.
- White House negotiators started to think that Iranian negotiators — Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi — were not empowered to cut a deal and were being overruled by the IRGC.
Driving the news: The White House realized it needed a backchannel to IRGC leadership.
- Around May 10, then-Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard called Barzani.
- According to two sources with direct knowledge of the call, Gabbard told Barzani that the administration thought he could help get in touch with the commander of the IRGC, Gen. Ahmad Vahidi.
- During the Iran-Iraq war, Barzani lived in Iran and studied at the University of Tehran. He is fluent in Farsi and has personal relationships with many senior members of the Iranian regime, including top members of the IRGC, according to one of the sources.
- "Nechirvan Barzani is a pragmatic problem solver. He's respected across the region. He knows nearly everyone in Tehran as well as Washington. That's who you call in a pinch," Brett McGurk, who has served as a Middle East adviser to four presidents, said in an interview.
- The source said Gabbard made clear to Barzani that she was making the call with the approval of President Trump and Vice President Vance.
- Gabbard told Barzani the White House wanted to know if Vahidi and the IRGC leadership were on board with what Ghalibaf and Araghchi had been negotiating or whether they had other ideas or demands, the source said.
- Gabbard noted the mediators couldn't reach Vahidi to clarify that.
Behind the scenes: Barzani agreed to Gabbard's request. He reached out to his contacts at the IRGC and said he had a message from the Trump administration.
- "But I want to talk directly to Gen. Vahidi," Barzani stressed, according to one of the sources.
- The Iranians agreed. On May 14, an IRGC official arrived in Barzani's office in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, carrying an encrypted phone to conduct a secure call.
- Barzani asked Vahidi if he was aligned with the Iranian negotiators. The Iranian general said he was. "I fully support them and this is also the position of the IRGC. We prefer to solve this crisis through negotiations," Vahidi said, according to a source with direct knowledge.
- Three sources, including a White House official, said Barzani called Gabbard right after his conversation with Vahidi and briefed her on the Iranian response. Gabbard then briefed the White House.
The intrigue: After receiving the Iranian response, the Trump administration came back with another proposal, according to one of the sources with knowledge of the backchannel talks.
- The U.S. wanted Barzani to host secret talks between senior U.S. and Iranian negotiators in Erbil.
- Barzani spoke to the Iranians again and passed on the message. The Iranians didn't rule it out, but were concerned about their security, the source said.
- They believed Israeli intelligence had many assets in Iraqi Kurdistan and were concerned the Israelis would try to assassinate them in Erbil or while they traveled there and back.
- The Erbil meeting never materialized.
State of play: The Pakistani and Qatari mediators continue to exchange messages between the U.S. and Iran but without any significant progress, regional sources with knowledge of the matter said.
- Some of those sources believe the Pakistanis are giving more optimistic readouts than the talks justify in an effort to create a sense of momentum that could break the stalemate.
What to watch: Barzani has recently sent messages to the White House offering to help restart U.S.-Iran negotiations, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.
- McGurk said the issue is not the mediator. "It's Iran's policy on the Strait," he said, "and that's unlikely to change anytime soon."
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Followed by the classic immediate denial from Iran for whatever that's worth...
Iran Denies Report of ‘Backchannel’ Negotiations with U.S.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Monday dismissed “fabricated” reports in American media of secret “backchannel” negotiations between the U.S. government and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The report on backchannel communications,
published by Axios on Sunday, said that former Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard set up the line of communications in May, using the president of Iraqi Kurdistan, Nechirvan Barzani, as a go-between.
According to the report, Barzani used his ties with the IRGC to get in touch with its leader, Gen. Ahmad Vahidi. Vahidi said he supported the work of Iran’s negotiators, including Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
Barzani relayed the message back to Gabbard, providing important information at a time when many observers thought the IRGC was working to sabotage negotiations. It was also unclear at the time whether Aragchi, or any other representative of Iran’s secular government, had any real power to make an agreement with the United States.
The report said the Trump administration wanted to open this channel of communication wider, developing Barzani into an intermediary, and possibly even arranging direct talks between American and Iranian representatives in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. The Iranians allegedly balked at this proposal, in part because they feared Israel might try to assassinate any representatives they sent to Erbil.
The alleged “backchannel” seems to have closed over the past two months. Gabbard
resigned as DNI at the end of June to help her husband battle an “extremely rare” form of cancer. All negotiations with Iran collapsed after the Iranians
violated the June Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) by attacking ships in the Strait of Hormuz. The Iranians claim the U.S. violated the MOU by responding to its attacks.
As of Monday, the Iranians
claim their only negotiations are bilateral talks with Oman over controlling the Strait of Hormuz and extorting “fees” from ships that pass through it. President Donald Trump said he is content to let pressure from the U.S. blockade build up against Iran and threatened to use force against Oman — a longstanding U.S. regional ally — if it makes a deal with Iran to control Hormuz.
One of Axios’ sources said Barzani told the White House that he could use his IRGC connections in an effort to restart negotiations between the U.S. and Iran.
A spokesperson for Barzani substantially
confirmed the Axios report to Iran International on Sunday, pointing to Iraqi Kurdistan’s good diplomatic relations with countries across the Middle East, and Barzani’s personal connections to IRGC leaders developed when he
studied political science at the University of Tehran in the 1980s.
“The Kurdistan Region of Iraq, before the war, during the war, and afterward, has consistently emphasized that dialogue and negotiations are the only way to resolve existing disputes and tensions,” Barzani’s spokesperson said.
Another source within the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) told Iran International that Barzani “had been asked to play the role because of his good relations with both the United States and Iran.” However, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei
said on Monday the Axios report was false, and concocting it was a sign of “desperation” by the United States.
“News of a secret meeting between Iran and the U.S. in Erbil is totally fabricated. The other news report is a media trick and psychological warfare aimed at creating division among decision-making bodies in the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Baqaei said.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry dismisses “fabricated” reports of secret “backchannel” negotiations between the U.S. government and the IRGC.
www.breitbart.com
