ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani held a call on Tuesday with Tom Barrack, the US president’s special envoy, to discuss regional developments and the recent agreement between Erbil and Baghdad allowing Iraqi oil exports via the Kurdistan Region’s pipeline to Turkey, according to a statement from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
The two officials “discussed the general situation” in Kurdistan and the wider region, emphasizing “the importance of continued cooperation and coordination between the Kurdistan Region and the United States to ensure peace, stability, and security.”
They also addressed the key deal reached earlier in the day, in which the KRG approved an official federal request to export oil through the Kurdistan Region’s pipeline to Turkey’s Ceyhan port.
The approval came despite previous KRG criticism of Baghdad for enforcing a “suffocating embargo” by restricting access to official-rate US dollars for traders and failing to confront attacks by Iran-aligned armed groups targeting the Region’s energy infrastructure.
Prime Minister Barzani stated that “talks with the federal government are ongoing, and the Kurdistan Region’s team is fully prepared to facilitate oil exports to benefit the people amid these difficult circumstances.” He further stressed the importance of addressing this “public interest affair” and “requested continued US monitoring and oversight in negotiations between Erbil and Baghdad concerning customs and trade,” the statement said.
For his part, the American envoy expressed appreciation for the KRG’s readiness to cooperate with the federal government in facilitating oil exports through Turkey.