WASHINGTON DC - The United States warned on Wednesday that attacks on Kurdistan Region are “unacceptable” amid increasing drone assaults on the Region’s oil fields, including those operated by American companies.
“These kinds of attacks in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq are unacceptable. We've expressed our dismay and our problem with them,” US State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce told Rudaw during a press briefing.
Several oil fields in the Kurdistan Region have been struck with explosive-laden drones in the last three days. At least four drone attacks were reported in Duhok province on Wednesday.
Kurdistan Region's natural resources ministry said the recent attacks on Kurdistan Region's oil sector has caused a "significant material loss." It condemned the attacks and reiterated its call on the federal government to take action to stop these attacks.
Aziz Ahmad, Deputy Chief of Staff to Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, said on X late Wednesday that the Region has lost nearly 200,000 barrels of oil production “after a spate of drone attacks by criminal militias on the Iraqi government payroll.”
He added that five oil fields, including two operated by US companies, have been struck so far.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) “welcomed U.S. investment and companies. Now, those same investors are being pushed out in a calculated campaign to economically strangle us,” Ahmad noted, blaming Washington for denying the KRG the necessary tools to defend its energy and civilian infrastructure. “We need them now to help us defend ourselves — we know exactly who’s behind these attacks and where they’re coming from.”
Drone strikes in the Kurdistan Region have increased since the outbreak of a 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran that began on June 13 and ended with a US-brokered ceasefire.
While no group has claimed responsibility for the latest attacks, the Region’s interior ministry in early July accused the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) of involvement - a charge dismissed by Baghdad as “unacceptable.”
Erbil-Baghdad financial dispute
The Iraqi government has not paid the KRG’s share from the federal budget since May due to financial disputes between both governments. Despite ongoing talks between both sides, they have yet to reach a final agreement.
The KRG’s Council of Ministers on Wednesday convened and announced that it has reached a new "understanding" with Baghdad aimed at resolving the ongoing budget dispute that has left more than 1.2 million public employees in the Kurdistan Region without salaries for over two months.
“We have been vocal regarding actions that have happened with Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, we've made it clear that we expect Iraq to withdraw certain dynamics that they apply to the Kurds when it comes to issues of salaries and oil distribution, etcetera,” Bruce told Rudaw during the Wednesday press briefing.
