Kurdistan PM and al-Halbousi back Iraqi federal government
Shafaq News- Erbil
Masrour Barzani, Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region, and Mohammed al-Halbousi, leader of the Taqaddum (Progress) party, expressed support for Iraq's federal government under Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi in managing current regional crises.
In a joint news conference in Erbil, both sides agreed on the need to work with the federal government in Baghdad to manage the crises confronting the country and pledged continued full support for it, and renewed their support for al-Zaidi's government in preserving security, stability, and Iraqi sovereignty.
The meeting followed a sharp escalation on Iraqi soil, after the United States and Saudi Arabia carried out joint air strikes on sites they said were used by Iran-aligned factions of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) to attack US troops and Saudi energy infrastructure. The PMF said the strikes killed at least 20 of its members and wounded 32 across seven provinces.
Al-Zaidi's government took office in 2026 after prolonged deadlock and faces US pressure to disarm the Iran-aligned factions ahead of a September deadline, alongside a US halt on some Iraqi oil revenues channeled through the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Read more: Iraq's September deadline undercuts armed factions' case for weapons
