Iraq’s Kurdistan to deepen ties with Iran

Iraqi Kurdistan plans to strengthen its relationship with Iran, the Prime Minister of the semi-autonomous region said on Wednesday in an acknowledgement of the deepening ties between Arbil and Tehran. PM Nechirvan Barzani said in a statement a new oil deal between Arbil and Baghdad would not impact the Kurdistan Regional Government’s ties with Turkey, or its growing partnership with Iran.“We will continue to strengthen our relationship with our eastern neighbour Iran,” Barzani said in a statement read at a Kurdish oil and gas conference in London. The statement was read by Sir Jeremy Greenstock, the former UK ambassador to the UN, after Barzani was unable to attend. The KRG will export 500,000 barrels per day of oil by the end of the first quarter of 2015 and will be a net contributor to Iraq’s budget by the end of next year, minister for natural resources Ashti Hawrami said at the conference.