Nechervan Barzani Visits Tehran in New Effort to Delay Kurdistan Elections

President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region Nechervan Barzani meets with Iraqi National Security Adviser Qasim al-Araji in Baghdad last week. (Kurdistan Region Presidency)
President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region Nechervan Barzani meets with Iraqi National Security Adviser Qasim al-Araji in Baghdad last week. (Kurdistan Region Presidency)
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Nechervan Barzani Visits Tehran in New Effort to Delay Kurdistan Elections

President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region Nechervan Barzani meets with Iraqi National Security Adviser Qasim al-Araji in Baghdad last week. (Kurdistan Region Presidency)
President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region Nechervan Barzani meets with Iraqi National Security Adviser Qasim al-Araji in Baghdad last week. (Kurdistan Region Presidency)

President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region Nechervan Barzani arrived in Tehran on Sunday on a visit described by a source from the pro-Iran Coordination Framework as a “last-ditch effort to postpone elections in the Region and maintain its unity.”

Iranian media said he is expected to meet with President Ebrahim Raisi, parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

The source from the Framework said his visit is part of the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s (KDP) effort to postpone the elections so that it has time to introduce amendments to the Baghdad Federal Supreme Court’s rulings related to the shares of minorities and the body that will oversee the polls, reported the Arab World Press.

Barzani will demand that Tehran pressure their ally, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), headed by Bafel Talabani, to agree on postponing the elections, added the source.

For their part, the Iranians wants to discuss “Israeli organizations that are present in Kurdistan and that are constantly targeting their country’s security.”

They believe that Nechervan Barzani is “approaching them from a weak position, meaning this is a golden opportunity to negotiate with him over the Israeli organizations and Iranian armed groups, which are opposed to Tehran, that are present in Kurdistan,” continued the source.

In return, the Iranians will talk to the PUK to persuade it to postpone the elections, which are set for June 10.

Kurdish Iraqi MP Rezan Sheikh Dler had previously warned that holding the elections on time would effectively lead to the division of Kurdistan into two administrations.

The PUK had declared in March that it would be boycotting the elections in protest against the Federal Supreme Court’s rulings.

Member of the PUK’s leadership council Jabar Yawar told Arab World Press that Kurdistan’s political disputes will be on Nechervan Barzani’s agenda in Tehran.

He will also discuss economic and border security issues with Iranian officials, he added.

“The Iranian have often played in role in resolving disputes between Kurdish parties and between the Kurdish region and federal government” in Baghdad, he remarked.

This is Nechervan Barzani’s fifth visit to Tehran in less than a year.

Electoral campaigns are expected to kick off in Kurdistan later this week.



Syria and Neighbors Urge Israel to Stop Bombings

Israeli Merkava tanks in the buffer zone between Israel and Syria near the village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, 08 May 2025. (EPA)
Israeli Merkava tanks in the buffer zone between Israel and Syria near the village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, 08 May 2025. (EPA)
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Syria and Neighbors Urge Israel to Stop Bombings

Israeli Merkava tanks in the buffer zone between Israel and Syria near the village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, 08 May 2025. (EPA)
Israeli Merkava tanks in the buffer zone between Israel and Syria near the village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, 08 May 2025. (EPA)

The foreign ministers of Syria, Türkiye and Jordan, meeting Monday in Ankara, called on Israel to cease attacks on Syria and to withdraw troops from the country.

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on Syria since longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad was ousted in December, often targeting military sites and killing dozens of people.

Israeli officials have also described Syria's new authorities as extremists and claimed to defend the country's Druze minority with a recent spate of attacks.

Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told a press conference with his Jordanian and Syrian counterparts that "Israel's expansionism poses a significant threat to the security, stability and future of Syria."

"This must come to an end. And we are on the same page about this. Syria needs to be supported to prevent terrorist organizations from settling in this region," Fidan added, noting that Syria shares a 900-kilometer (560-mile) border with Türkiye.

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani told the joint press conference that "our borders are constantly violated by Israeli attacks".

The Israeli strikes are "calculated escalations aimed at destabilizing Syria and dragging the region into a new cycle of conflict", Shaibani said, decrying "systematic violations of international law and explicit provocations".

He called on the international community to put Israel under "increased pressure" to halt the bombings.

Jordan's top diplomat, Ayman Safadi, said attacks on Syrian soil "will not bring security to Israel and will bring nothing to Syria except ruin and destruction".