U.S. President Donald Trump (R) meets with Mohammed bin Salman, Deputy Crown Prince and Minister of Defense of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in the Oval Office at the White House, March 14, 2017 in Washington, DC. Pool/ABACA/ABACA/PA Images. All rights reserved.With ISIL reeling in the decisive battle to recapture Mosul – ISIL’s biggest urban stronghold –, Masoud Barzani president of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) declared, on June 7, that the KRG would hold an independence referendum on September 25.
Barzani’s announcement sent shock waves across the region, and what made it profoundly alarming was his determination to conduct this controversial referendum in Kirkuk, an oil-rich multi-ethnic city, as well as in other disputed areas, which were seized by the Kurdish fighters (Peshmerga) as the Iraqi Army unravelled in the face of ISIL’s lightening advance in June 2014.
While Iran swiftly declared its strident opposition to the referendum, Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al Abadi’s initial response was muted.
