ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - US President Donald Trump thanks Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani in a letter for supporting his "peace initiatives" while stressing the need to end tensions and violences in the Middle East, according to a statement from the Kurdistan Region Presidency.
"In the letter, President Trump expresses his gratitude to President Nechirvan Barzani for supporting his peace initiatives and emphasizes the importance of resolving conflicts in the Middle East,"according to the statement.
President Trump reiterated his administration's determination to help establish a lasting peace in the region, and put an end to tensions in the Middle East.
"He also reaffirms his and his administration’s commitment to fostering lasting peace, reducing tensions in the Middle East, and ending violence and warfare both in the region and globally," the statement detailed.
President Trump concluded his letter by expressing his "best wishes for success to President Nechirvan Barzani and his family."
Trump has said he has "ended 8 wars in just 8 months" in a social media post with the title "the president of peace".
His latest addition was ending the two-year bloody war between Israel and Hamas.
President Barzani, has also played a pivotal role in the significant progresses of peace talks between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) which resulted in the landmark, and historciall call by the PKK's jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan when he called his party to lay down arms, bringing the four-decade-long war which claimed the lives of up to 40,000 people on both sides, to an end.
President Barzani has also encouraged unity among Kurdish parties in northern Syria since the ouster of Bashar al-Assad.
Barzani, who at the same time, maintains strong and close ties with Washinogton, and the Islamic republic of Iran, has repeatedly expressed concerns over the US-Iran tensions playing out in Iraq and the region, as a whole, while lauding America’s crucial role in supporting Baghdad and Erbil in their fight against ISIS.
President Barzani and US President Trump have met twice, in January 2020 on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and in December 2024, during the reopening ceremony of the historic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
Trump's letter to President Barzani comes just two days after the Kurdish president welcomed the US president's appointment of Mark Savaya as Special Envoy for Iraq as indicative of Erbil and Baghdad status as catalysts of regional stability.
Washington and Erbil enjoy close ties though the US government has never supported Kurdish independence and it strongly opposed the 2017 independence referendum.
The US has been a key supporter of the Kurdistan Region since it gained autonomy in the 1990s, backing the development of the Peshmerga forces, leading the global coalition against ISIS, and supporting ongoing reform efforts. The US is also preparing to open a new consulate general in Erbil, set to be the largest in the world.
A US trade delegation recently visited the Kurdistan Region, seeking stronger trade relations.