An interesting meeting took place in the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan — the Foreign Minister of Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, met with the leadership of the autonomous administration, represented by the head of the administration Nechirvan Barzani and Prime Minister Masrour Barzani. Journalists reported that the sides mainly discussed the issue of fighting ISIS* and maintaining regional security. However, it is unlikely that we will find out what they actually discussed, as the meeting took place behind closed doors.
What allows us to assume that this meeting discussed not only the issue of fighting ISIS, which does not require the visit of the Qatari Foreign Minister to Iraqi Kurdistan? Such assumptions can be made by those who initiated the meeting and when it took place.
As we have written before, Iraq is at a crossroads — whether to fully align with Iran and its Shiite axis on a sectarian basis, in opposition to the states of the region, or to build an independent state on a national basis, distancing itself from both Tehran and Washington (https://golosislama.com/news.php?id=37876).
So what does Qatar have to do with it? To try to answer this question, we need to remember the role it plays in regional politics and link it to the visit against the backdrop of the escalation of US-Iranian relations with the Iraqi Kurds.
Why is it that the Iraqi Kurds may once again come to the fore in these unfolding circumstances? When the leadership of Iraqi Kurdistan once planned to hold a referendum on declaring independence from Iraq, the two Arab countries in the region, Iran, Turkey, the US and the European Union unanimously blocked it.
In other words, after the defeat of ISIS, Iraq not only managed to prevent its disintegration, but also managed to reunite it in fragments. However, this was clearly not done in order to hand it over to Iran as a trophy, but rather to maintain stability in the region and the international order, which provides for the preservation of national borders.
However, after a significant part of the Iraqi leadership sympathized with Iran against the US during the recent events, voices within the political class and the expert community called for a reassessment of their attitude towards the independence of Iraqi Kurdistan. And soon after, a representative of Qatar arrives in Iraqi Kurdistan for a closed-door meeting.
But why Qatar? This is interesting because this country plays a very ambiguous role, including in its relations with the US and Iran.
On the one hand, countries that position themselves as clear enemies of Iran and allies of the US, starting with Qatar, confront it and accuse it, among other things, of maintaining relations with Iran and demand that they be severed.
On the other hand, it should not be forgotten that the leadership of Qatar, just like the Saudis and Emiratis, interacts with the American establishment, including its anti-Iranian and Zionist circles (https://golosislama.com/news.php?id=33778).
From this point of view, it cannot be excluded that Qatar is trying to test the ground for the revival of the Iraqi Kurdish issue in case the US-Iranian escalation continues. However, taking into account Qatar’s maneuvering between Washington and Tehran, it is unlikely that Qatar will take a clearly hostile position towards Iraq, and therefore towards Iran, unless it receives a very favorable offer and reliable guarantees for such a game…
«Voice of Islam» will continue to monitor this direction of regional politics, considering it not only in the context of US-Iranian relations, but also the possible transformation of Iraq and Iran themselves…
*- Forbidden in the Russian Federation.