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The war in Iran is destabilizing some of its neighbors, including the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Iran and its proxies have been firing missiles and rockets at U.S. forces and on the Iranian Kurdish opposition groups in the Kurdish region. NPR's Jane Arraf sat down with a senior Kurdish leader who explains why they are desperately trying to avoid being dragged into this fight.
JANE ARRAF, BYLINE: I'm sitting in the office of Qubad Talabani, the deputy prime minister of Iraq's Kurdistan Region. A painting of his late father Jalal Talabani, a legendary Kurdish leader, hangs in view of the sleek leather sofas. Talabani, who's 48, is urbane and U.K.-educated, but he's also schooled in the risky politics of this conflict-ridden region. And there's something he wants to stress.
QUBAD TALABANI: Our forces would not get involved under any circumstances. This is not our war, and we've made that very clear.
ARRAF: They've made it clear to the U.S. and to neighboring Iran, he says. Last week, President Trump said he would favor armed Iranian opposition forces in Iraq crossing the border into Iran. A few days later, he reversed that. In between, the head of Talabani's party spoke by phone with Trump. Qubad Talabani says this is what Bafel Talabani, his brother, told the president.
TALABANI: We have explained maybe some of the flaws behind the thought of using Iranian Kurds as the tip of the spear to launch any potential uprisings within Iran.
ARRAF: Talabani points out that Kurds make up just 9% of the population of Iran, a multiethnic country the size of Western Europe with 90 million people. And he says at least half the Kurds are Shia, many of whom support the Islamic regime.
TALABANI: There are Kurds. There are armed Kurds inside Iran. There are organizations and secret cells that I could see also rising up. But I think Kurds being the first to do that, in our opinion, would have a negative impact.
ARRAF: The Kurdistan Region, squeezed between Iran and Iran-backed militias in Iraq, would also be at much more risk of Iranian retaliation. Already, Iran and the militias in Iraq have launched nearly 200 attacks in the Kurdish region since the start of the war, according to a U.S.-based monitoring group. Talabani says Iran was so alarmed at media reports that Kurdish opposition fighters could cross the border, it sent a high-level delegation here a few days ago.
TALABANI: They were trying to understand the realities of this reporting about whether or not we're about to invade Iran. And we made it very clear. No, we have no interest, and there's no means to, and that is not our policy.
ARRAF: Iraqi Kurds have been among the closest U.S. military allies in the region, helping the U.S. defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria. But Talabani wants to dispel a misconception.
TALABANI: We always get labeled we're good fighters. Every, I think, U.S. president since - maybe since Bill Clinton has some - in some form or fashion talked about how good a fighter we are. But we're not guns for hire. We just want to govern our region, build our economy, serve our people, live in peace.
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ARRAF: A lot of Kurds here struggle economically, but there are also increasing signs of prosperity.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Thirty-five 500 (ph).
ARRAF: Near a new luxury housing complex, Halkawt Chalabi, communications director at the American University here, sips coffee at an outdoor cafe. The university has been shut down and staff evacuated.
HALKAWT CHALABI: This time, we are afraid because it's the first time that have been Arab country attacked. The - it's not just Iran and Israel and American. The entire region is affected, and everybody is uncertain what's going to happen next.
ARRAF: People here are worried that this wider war will undo this region's hard-won gains. Jane Arraf, NPR News, Suleimaniyah in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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