Trump’s National Security Advisor Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster in a conference last week said that the Iranian government has taken advantage of internal divisions in the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), whose leader Jalal Talabani recently passed away, to advance it’s goals in Iraq.

“As you know, Jalal Talabani passed away recently and may God rest his soul and condolences to his family and so part of what’s complicating this is a power struggle within—in the PUK and the ability of the Iranians to take advantage of all of this, right,” McMaster said.

McMaster argued that Iran’s “hegemonic design” is to pit communities against each other and then insert itself as a protector of one of the parties as an excuse to advance Iran’s agenda.

“They use that invitation to come in and to help to advance their agenda and in Iran’s case” he insisted.

Recently, the Iraqi government and the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), including many battalions which are Iran-backed, took over control of most of the disputed territories, including the oil-rich Kirkuk city, described by many Kurds as the heart or Jerusalem of Kurdistan. They were able to do so without much of a fight, as Kurdish Peshmerga withdrew from the city.

The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) has accused it’s rival PUK of having a deal with Iran to withdraw it’s Peshmerga forces from Kirkuk to undermine the KDP, the PUK has denied there was any deal and said they were forced to withdraw in face of a stronger adversary.

The senior security advisor said that in the aftermath of these tumultuous events, the US hopes that both Iraq and Kurdistan will stay strong.

“So, what you have is in Iraq is a greater level of complexity now associated with the Kurdish referendum and then the actions to follow the Kurdish referendum,” he said. “And so what we want to see is a strong Iraq emerge and of course part of a strong Iraq is a strong Kurdish region where we have very long-time partners whose partnership we value tremendously”.

Acknowledging that Kurds suffered under Saddam Hussein for years, particularly in the 1980’s, he also commended Kurds for constructing an autonomous government with the help of the United States.

“They used the safety and security we helped provide that region to build a—phenomenal communities in Sulaymaniyah, and Erbil and in Dohuk,” he said.

But the Challenge ahead, he believes, is to ensure that the Kurdistan Regional Government and the Baghdad authorities can mend their diplomatic rift, and that the Government in Baghdad can veer away from its newfound, controversial relationship with Iran.

The Independence Referendum and the spectre of Iran

McMaster also used the opportunity to insist that these past destabilizing events was one reason as to why the U.S. couldn’t support the Independence Referendum.

“We did recommend to Mr. Barzani, who we have great relationships with,and great respect for, that this was not the time you know, as the region is emerging from this horrible trauma of ISIS and the fight against ISIS and the Iranian subversion within Iraq that complicates the heck out of things.” He said, “but of course we are where we are now.”



The security advisor to Trump also used the opportunity to rationalize some of the steps taken by the Trump Administration in the recent weeks, including an effort to prevent Tehran from spreading “illegal armed groups to undermine Iraq’s security.”



In contradistinction, a senior leader of Hezbollah called the victory of Iraqi forces over the Peshmerga’s, a victory against Israel and the US in a recent statement.

“Iran has perpetuated these conflicts in a way that has created a humanitarian and a political catastrophe across the region mainly in Syria but also in Iraq, the challenges inside of Iraq. And so, the message has to be that none of us, the Iraqis, the United States, our partners in the region, our European allies can tolerate this degree of subversion and support for terrorist and militia—terrorism and militias,” he concluded.



In a meeting with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Prime Minister of Iraq, Abadi, defended the role of Iranian backed militas in the Popular Mobilization Forces, and claimed that they were operating as part of the "Iraqi institutions." Abadi's office also responded to a statement by Tillerson demanding that Iranian militas "go home", by insisting that "no party has the right to interfere in Iraqi matters".