Israel Foreign Minister Sees ‘Negev Summit’ As Lasting Forum

A plan for Iraq's Kurdistan region to supply gas to Turkey and Europe - with Israeli help - is part of what angered Iran into striking the Kurdish capital Erbil, Iraqi and Turkish officials say.

The March 13 attack on Erbil came as a shock to officials throughout the region for its ferocity and was a rare publicly declared assault by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

Many were surprised that the attack took place amid nuclear talks with Iran and at a time when Tehran has been demanding that the United States lift sanctions imposed on the IRGC.

The IRGC said the strike hit Israeli "strategic centers" in Erbil and was retaliation for an Israeli air raid that killed two of its members in Syria. There were also hints that the attack was in retaliation for an Israeli drone attack in February that destroyed an IRGC drone base in Western Iran.

The choice of target, however, baffled many officials and analysts. Most of the 12 missiles hit near the villa of a Kurdish businessman involved in the autonomous Kurdistan region's energy sector.

Iraqi and Turkish officials who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity this week said they believe the attack was meant as a multi-pronged message to US allies in the region - but that a key trigger was a plan to pump Kurdish gas into Turkey and Europe, with Israel's involvement.

"There had been two recent meetings between Israeli and US energy officials and specialists at the villa to discuss shipping Kurdistan gas to Turkey via a new pipeline," an Iraqi security official said.

A senior Iranian security official told Reuters the attack was a "multi-purposed message to many people and groups. It's up to them how to interpret it. Whatever (Israel) is planning, from energy sector to agriculture, will not materialize."

Two Turkish officials confirmed that talks involving US and Israeli officials recently took place to discuss Iraq supplying Turkey and Europe with natural gas but did not say where they took place.

The Iraqi security official and a former US official with knowledge of the plans said the Kurdish businessman whose villa was hit by the Iranian missiles, Baz Karim Barzanji, was working to develop the gas export pipeline.

The disclosure puts Iran's attack on Erbil in the context of regional energy interests, rather than Israeli military attacks on the IRGC, as widely reported.

Israel's foreign ministry said it was not familiar with the matter. Barzanji did not immediately respond to a Reuters request seeking comment.

The office of Iraqi Kurdish President Nechirvan Barzani denied any meetings with US and Israeli officials to discuss a pipeline took place at Barzanji's villa. The Kurds deny there is any Israeli military or official presence in their territory.

TURKEY-ISRAEL RAPPROCHEMENT

The Iraqi, Turkish and Western sources spoke to Reuters mostly on condition of anonymity because they are not allowed to give statements to the media.

They said the move comes as a politically sensitive time for Iran and the region: the gas export plan could threaten Iran's place as a major supplier of gas to Iraq and Turkey while its economy is still reeling from international sanctions.

It also comes as Israel, Iran's biggest enemy in the region, and Turkey are strengthening ties and looking at further energy cooperation as sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine threaten severe shortages across Europe.

Iran is also a close ally of Russia and the disruption of a plan to supply gas to Europe could also harm Moscow’s prominent role as a major supplier to the continent.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said last month that Turkey and Israel can work together to carry Israeli natural gas to Europe. Erdogan also met Barzani and said that Ankara wants to sign a natural gas supply deal with Iraq.

"The timing of the attack in Erbil is very interesting. It seems it was more directed at northern Iraq's energy exports and possible cooperation that would include Israel," one of the Turkish officials said.

"Some talks were held for northern Iraq natural gas exports, and we know that Iraq, the United States and Israel were involved in this process. Turkey supports this too," the official added.

The Iraqi security official said at least two meetings to discuss the issue, with US and Israeli energy specialists, had taken place at Barzanji's villa, which he said explained the choice of target for Iran's missile strike. No one was seriously hurt in the attack, but the villa was severely damaged.

An Iraqi government official and a Western diplomat in Iraq said that Barzanji was known to host foreign officials and businessmen at his home and that they included Israelis.

The Iraqi security official and the former US official said Barzanji's KAR Group company is working to expedite the gas export pipeline. The new pipeline would eventually connect to one that has already been completed on the Turkish side of the border, the former US official said.

KAR Group built and manages the Kurdish region's domestic pipeline, the Kurdistan presidency's chief of staff Fawzi Harir said. It also owns a third of Kurdistan's oil export pipeline under a lease agreement. The rest is owned by Russia's Rosneft.

Based on report by Reuters

"This will happen soon," Naeh told Israel's Army Radio, although a date was not set. "It is in the midst of various bureaucratic processes. I reckon that, by the summer, we will have a fuller staff, along with other officials who will join the embassy."

The ambassador’s remarks came on the second day of the ‘Negev Summit’ in the Israeli settlement of Sde Boker, involving Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri, Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani, United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The Jerusalem Post newspaper cited “sources close” to Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid that Israel and the Arab states with which it has ‘normalization’ agreements – the UAE and Bahrain – brokered by the Trump administration were discussing a military alliance aimed at Iran. Saudi Arabia has stuck to the Arab League position of refusing normalization until Israel concedes Palestinian statehood.

“Already in the first conversations, and on the background of security challenges in Europe, ideas were brought up to advance a regional security architecture that will build deterrence against threats from the air and sea,” the source said, according to the Post. Israel and Arab Gulf states have opposed 11-month negotiations in Vienna aimed at reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear program, although Israel recently expressed a desire to cooperate with the US.

The rioters behind the Sunday night attack in Bagdad were angry over a tweet deemed as insulting to Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the most influential Shia cleric in Iraq.

According to Iran’s official IRNA news agency, the protesters called the KDP offices a "center of sedition" and demanded their closure. Some of them were holding photos of Sistani.

The KDP, the ruling party in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq, condemned the tweet posted on the official account of Nayif Kurdistani, a man allegedly affiliated to it, and said that the party respects all religious groups and "honorable clerics."

Following the uproar caused by the tweet, Kurdistani apologized and deleted the post, saying later his Twitter account had been hacked and that he is not responsible for its controversial content.

A source in the Kurdistan Region’s Interior Ministry told local media that Kurdistani was arrested over the tweet the authorities considered as "offensive" to the Iraqi Supreme Religious Authority.

This is not the first time that KDP offices are set on fire in Baghdad.

In October 2020, supporters of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) – or Hashd al-Shaabi – set ablaze the party’s headquarters in Karrada district after a Kurdish former minister called for the expulsion of the Iran-backed paramilitary force from Baghdad’s Green Zone.

Tehran has been accused of directly interfering in Iraq’s internal affairs, including elections, for at least 20 years. 

Iran’s Fars news agency affiliated with IRGC splashed a headline on its website Monday morning saying Hezbollah congratulated the “martyrdom” operation in Israel that killed two police officers.

Fars quoted the Hezbollah as saying that the terror attack was “the most important and expressive answer to the treasonous meetings of some Arab countries with the leaders of the Zionist regime – countries that have chosen normalization.”

The original Hezbollah statement was carried by Al Mayadeen TV, a media close to the Lebanese militant organization.

Two Arab gunmen believed to be affiliated with the Islamic State group opened fire on people and police officers in central Israel, killing two policemen. They were shot dead by undercover officers who were nearby.

Top diplomats from four Arab countries arrived in Israel on Sunday to hold a landmark meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on regional issues, particularly to discuss the Biden Administration plan to finalize a nuclear deal with Iran.

Although Israel and its Arab allies in the region are concerned about the US plan to lift sanctions on Iran, the most contentious issue now has become Washington’s apparent intention to somehow placate Iran’s most controversial demand to remove the Revolutionary Guard from its list of terrorist organizations.

Although the meeting of diplomats in Israel on Monday might not change the decision of the Biden Administration to compromise on the issue of the IRGC, any sign of cooperation between Arab states and Israel is seen as a threat to Iran’s influence in the Middle East.

Iran officially has not commented on the gathering in Israel, perhaps because it does not want to create complications just before a deal with the United States. But Hezbollah is a proxy organization of the IRGC and feels it can praise the terror attack in Israel without a backlash against Tehran.

An interesting point is that the assailants are believed to be affiliated with the Islamic State group that Iran prides itself for having fought against in Iraq and Syria, but when it comes to the killing of Israelis the attack by IS becomes an act of “martyrdom.”

Mehr news agency in Tehran, another hardliner website, also called the attackers martyrs and announced, “the death and wounding of several Zionists.”

Other Iranian websites, not affiliated with the IRGC, largely ignored the news of the attack, but interestingly, Tasnim News, another affiliate also did not cover the incident. The official government news website IRNA was also silent about the attack.

The news came hours after Bennett, who has been vaccinated against the coronavirus and received a booster dose, visited the scene of a shooting in the Israeli city of Hadera, where two Arab gunmen killed two police officers before being shot dead.

"This morning, the prime minister will conduct an assessment ... of last night's attack," Bennett's office added in a statement.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will test for COVID-19 on Monday after having met Bennett in Jerusalem the previous day, a State Department spokesperson said.

"Upon learning of Prime Minister Bennett's positive test result, we determined that only Secretary Blinken is considered a close contact. He will follow all CDC guidance, including by masking and undergoing appropriate testing," spokesperson Ned Price said.

Bennet is in Israel for a two-day visit to attend a landmark meeting with allied Arab countries and Israel. The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt and Morocco, the so-called Abraham Accords counties, and Israel will discuss regional issues and US nuclear talks with Iran.