November 10, 2017
Iran’s military chief says the United States forced the Kurds in Iraq to hold a referendum on independence in order to foment disorder in the Kurdish areas of Iran.
The chief of the Joint Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Major General Mohammad-Hossain Baqeri, said the Americans assembled a “team of US advisors” who were dispatched to pressure the officials of Iraqi Kurdistan into holding the independence referendum.
“The US incited the Kurd-istan region officials to hold a referendum and advised them on how to hold it within the framework of a secret consultation team,” General Baqeri said at a forum in Urumiyeh last Tuesday.
He went on to say the referendum was a plot to foment insecurity inside Iran. “West Azerbaijan and Kurdistan are among the most important provinces of Iran,” he said. “Therefore, the enemies have invested a lot to disturb security in this region.”
Baqeri painted a picture of the Americans forcing the Iraqi Kurds to hold a referendum against their will, as if the Kurds had never considered independence before.
The United States did send both military and political officials to Kurdistan to urge the Kurds not to hold the referendum. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also telephoned the Kurdish leadership to ask that the referendum be canceled. And American officials made public appeals, saying the referendum was ill-advised.