Roj Bash Kurdistan

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A high-level Iranian delegation is in the Kurdistan Region to meet with Kurdish political groups, as they hold talks on forming a new government following September elections.

“We have seen them and we know they are here,” Bilal Suleiman, a member of the political bureau of the Islamic League (Komal) told Rudaw, adding that his party leaders had met with the Iranians. He refused to divulge when and which Komal leaders had met with the delegation.

Komal is believed to have the strongest relations with Iran among all Kurdish parties.

Observers believe the arrival of the Iranian delegation in Kurdistan at this time underscores the importance of the autonomous Kurdish region for Iran.

Khalil Ibrahim, member of the leadership council of the Islamic Union (Yekgirtu), told Rudaw that his party also had met with the Iranian delegation, as leaders mulls an offer to join the new government.

“Meeting the Iranians isn’t a taboo,” said Ibrahim.

Nechirvan Barzani, the candidate of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) for the post of prime minister, said at a press conference following a visit with the Islamic Union that he had met the Iranian delegation, too.

Barzani has been asked by his party, which gained the majority of the votes in the September 21 polls for the Kurdish parliament, to form a government. He is currently meeting with all political groups on their possible participation in his cabinet.

Iran has strong cultural and historical ties with Kurdistan and Tehran maintains relations with Kurdish political groups. It is also Erbil’s second-largest trade partner after Turkey.

The Islamic Republic was one of the first countries to open a consulate in Erbil and one in Sulaimani.