Iraqi Forces Deploy As Iran-Backed Militias Attack Kurds In Kirkuk
Iraqi security forces deployed in the northern city of Kirkuk on Sunday as Iran-backed militias have killed several Kurds and continue to threaten more attacks.
Iraqi security forces deployed in the northern city of Kirkuk on Sunday as Iran-backed militias have killed several Kurds and continue to threaten more attacks.
According to police and security sources, four Kurds were shot dead and 15 people were wounded during the clashes in the city, controlled by the Iraqi government and home to diverse groups of people including Kurds, Turkmens, and Arabs.
Amir Shwani, a spokesman for Kirkuk police, said in a statement that a curfew had been lifted and vehicles were moving normally in the city on Sunday, but security forces had deployed additional troops to "prevent violence and protect civilians."
The city has been a point of contention, witnessing disputes between Kurdish forces and the Iraqi government. Iranian-backed militias have recently escalated aggression in the region, firing rockets to target gas fields on the road to Sulaymaniyah, a large city in the Kurdistan autonomous region about 100 kilometers west of Kirkuk.
The clashes followed days of tensions over a building in Kirkuk that was once the headquarters for the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) but was used by the Iraqi army as a base since 2017. Iraq's federal supreme court issued an urgent ruling on Sunday obliging the government to delay procedures regarding the handover of the building to the KDP.
Kirkuk, an oil-rich province in northern Iraq along the fault lines between the Kurdish autonomous region and areas controlled by Iraq's Shiite-dominated central government, has been the focus of some of the country's worst post-Islamic State violence. Arab residents and minority groups, who say they suffered under Kurdish rule, have protested the KDP's return to the city.
“Dozens of protesters, mainly members of the Iran-backed Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia and their supporters, have set up tents near the JOC headquarters since Sunday evening in protest to the potential return of the KDP. They have blocked access to the highway and vowed to continue their demonstration until [Prime Minister Shia al-Sudani retracts his decision,” Rudaw Kurdish news agency reported reported.
Similar clashes are also happening between Kurdish-led forces and groups of Islamic militias and tribes in eastern Syria. The violence has killed 49 fighters from both sides and eight civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor.
The involvement of the pro-Iran militias also has another dimension. Late in August, Iran and Iraq formalized an agreement to dismantle Iranian Kurdish dissident factions stationed in the northern reaches of Iraq and relocate them from their bases.
Nasser Kanaani, spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry, said the Iraqi government had undertaken the commitment "to disarm the armed terrorist groups stationed in Iraq's territory by September 19, and subsequently, evacuate and transfer them from their military bases to camps designated by the Iraqi government."
Historically, Iran has intermittently executed targeted operations against the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Iran (KDPI) and other Iranian Kurdish dissident elements operating within Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region, adjacent to Iran's borders.
Various Iranian dissident factions in Iraq have aligned their allegiances with the two principal Iraqi Kurdish parties: the Kurdistan Democratic Party, headquartered in Erbil, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party, with its stronghold in Suleimaniyah.
Foreign sources monitoring Iran’s oil shipments estimated in August that daily exports reached close to two million barrels per day, after climbing to one million in 2022 and 1.5 million earlier this year. A Reuters survey published August 31 showed that OPEC’s oil output rose in August as Iranian supply jumped to its highest since 2018, despite ongoing cuts by Saudi Arabia and other members of the wider OPEC+ alliance to support the market.
However, the head of Iran’s Planning and Budget Organization, Davoud Manzoor, said in late August that only half of the government’s projected income form oil exports has materialized since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year on March 22. He also claimed that the oil was sold at around $60 per barrel.
Given the fact that in this period the government was expecting to earn around $13 billion from oil exports, the Fararu website in Tehran argued that Manzoor’s statement means the government earned only $6.5 billion.
Apart from uncertainty about the real volume of Iran’s oil exports, another puzzle preoccupies the media. How much discount Iran provides to buyers of its oil. Perhaps that discount should explain why the government has earned only half of the expected oil revenues.
If an average daily 1.5 million barrels of oil was sold since March at $60 a barrel, the government should have earned $13.5 billion, EcoIran and Fararu websites point out. Therefore, either the volume of exports was lower, or the Islamic Republic offered deeper discounts amid US sanctions on its oil exports and banking transactions.
This leads to the belief that Iran is offering its oil at closer to $30 a barrel, while Russia, which is also under sanctions, sells its crude at around $60, and Tehran must compete with its ally to attract Chinese buyers.
The $30 price estimate comes from an average daily export of 1.5 million barrels, that industry sources have been reporting in recent months. At that price, Iran could earn $6.75 billion in five months since March, which is close to what Manzoor, the head of the Budget organization announced as government oil revenues in this period.
There is also the possibility that China pays more for the oil on paper, but actually remits much less in cash and the rest in barter. There are also middlemen who facilitate the illicit oil shipments and launder the payments for Iran amid banking sanctions. These activities could also take a big chunk out of the revenues.
Tankers carrying Iranian oil usually engage in ship-to-ship transfers in Asian waters to hide the origin of the shipments before it reaches China.
A substantial part of these hard currencies is sold at a subsidized rate to importers of essential goods, such as food and animal feed. While one US dollar fetches 500,000 rials on the open market, the government provides the hard currency at 285,000 rials for imports of food and medicine.
Since the United States exited the JCPOA nuclear accord and imposed the sanctions in 2018, Iran has been selling its oil in clandestine methods to China. Export volumes and prices are a state secret, and all figures are estimates by industry observers and occasional bits and pieces of information from government officials.
Expressing support for the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement and those killed and imprisoned by the regime, the activists pointed out, "We repeatedly remind that the structure of religious authoritarianism not only undermines our national foundations but also propels us towards future upheavals and movements towards rebellion."
Two weeks before the anniversary of Iranian protests, the pro-reform individuals representing a more radical posture than former President Mohammad Khatami demanded a referendum to make "structural changes" in the Islamic Republic political system.
Iranians expect renewed protests on the anniversary of the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement later this month, and the signatories of the statement, without explicitly calling for demonstrations, voiced support for young dissidents. "Now, we express our solidarity once again with all the families affected by the protests of the past year and hold the uprising of young people seeking freedom and equality, especially the resistance of justice-seeking and freedom-loving women, in high regard," they emphasized.
"Therefore, structural change and a referendum to establish a government derived from the people's vote will remain a right that we continue to advocate so that Iran no longer suffers beyond what it already has," they said.
Iran's reformists, who advocate for a more humane version of the Islamic Republic as a form of government, have been driven out of power by hardliners in the past three years. Even moderate conservatives, such as former parliament speaker Ali Larijani, have been pushed into retirement from public office.
When nationwide protests began in September 2022, after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, reformists were initially ambivalent toward the movement, which appeared to be more radical than simply demanding reforms within the Islamic Republic system. Prominent reformists adopted contradictory postures, with many rejecting regime change as the desirable goal of the protests.
On November 14, two reform figures, former President Mohammad Khatami (1997-2005) and former vice president Massoumeh Ebtekar, broke their silence after more than 8 weeks of protests about the possible demise of the regime and voiced their opposition to dramatic changes in Iran.
Khatami revealed his opposition to regime change by saying that it was "neither possible nor desirable." Nonetheless, he warned that if the current state of affairs continues, the ground is paved for a looming social collapse.
The divergence of opinions among reformists sharpened in February when former prime minister and Green Movement Leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi issued a statement demanding "fundamental change" based on the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement and constitutional revisions. Mousavi, who has been under house arrest since 2011, said in his statement that the people have given up hope for reforms and they demand widespread change.
Although Mousavi did not openly call for regime change, the demands he put forward could lead to a new and more democratic political system. Ironically, his statement implicitly repeated what exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi has been saying for years, and other opposition figures were demanding during the protests. Mousavi was a pre-imminent Islamic revolutionary in the 1980s.
Khatami, as the symbolic father of the reform movement, nevertheless has maintained his more loyalist position, asking for reforms, while parliamentary elections in March put average reformist figures in a quandary of whether to announce their candidacy or boycott what, in most probability, will turn out to be another engineered vote by the ruling hardliners.
The 300 mostly reformist figures who have signed the latest statement appear to have adopted a position closer to Mousavi, by calling for a referendum.
Qolian (Gholian) gained prominence for her journalistic coverage of prolonged labor strikes at the Haft-Tappeh sugar factory during 2017-2018. Her advocacy on behalf of workers' demands resulted in her arrest and subsequent imprisonment.
In 2019, while detained at Qarchak Prison, Qolian witnessed her own confessions being broadcast on state television. She identified the TV presenter as Ameneh Sadat Zabihpour, known as a mouthpiece for the Iranian regime. She was also a prison interrogator referred to as Ms. Askari during her interrogations. The case was publicized by Qolian which led to Zabihpour filing a lawsuit against her.
The latest court session pertaining to this case took place on August 22. Notably, this session was conducted in secret due to Qolian's refusal to wear the mandatory hijab.
Mehdi Qolian, Sepideh's brother and a civil activist himself, documented the court proceedings on his Instagram account. He reported that Zabihpour repeatedly objected to Sepideh's presence in court without wearing a headscarf. In response, the court judge issued a "criminal offense" against Sepideh for this reason.
Throughout the court session, Zabihpour, who combines the roles of an interrogator and a reporter, persistently threatened Qolian with charges such as "spying" and "sedition" from the moment she entered the courtroom.
Qolian's commitment to activism remained unwavering even after she completed a four-year prison term and was released in March. Shortly after her release, she was re-arrested for publicly chanting against Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei while not wearing a hijab. This led to an additional two-year prison sentence.