The Trump administration spoke with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps by using Kurdistan Regional Government President Nechirvan Barzani as a secret backchannel, Axios reported on Sunday, citing three sources with direct knowledge of the talks.
The KRG administers a semi-autonomous region of northern Iraq and is headquartered in Erbil.
Axios said that on May 10, the US government was unsure as to who was technically leading the IRGC.
Then, former director of the US’s national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, called Barzani with President Donald Trump’s approval. In the call, she asked if Barzani could get in touch with the IRGC’s top commander, Ahmad Vahidi.
Gabbard stressed to Barzani that the White House wanted to know if the IRGC’s leadership agreed with what Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi were pitching at the negotiating table, or if they had any other demands, one source with knowledge of the call told Axios.
Why did the White House call Iraqi Kurdistan President Barzani to talk to Tehran?
Notably, Barzani lived in Iran during the Iraq-Iran War in the 1980s, studied at the University of Tehran, speaks fluent Farsi, and has personal relationships with several members of the IRGC.
“Nechirvan Barzani is a pragmatic problem solver. He’s respected across the region. He knows nearly everyone in Tehran as well as Washington. That’s who you call in a pinch,” former US National Security Council coordinator for the Middle East Brett McGurk told Axios.
Barzani agreed to the administration’s request and reached out to his contacts in the IRGC. He stressed that he had a message from the administration and wanted to speak directly to Vahidi, one source told Axios.
The pair spoke over the phone on May 14. Barzani asked Vahidi if he agreed with the negotiations, and the latter said he supported them.
“I fully support them, and this is also the position of the IRGC. We prefer to solve this crisis through negotiations,” Vahidi said, a source with direct knowledge told Axios.
Barzani then briefed Gabbard about the call, who, in turn, briefed the administration.
The Trump administration then responded with another proposal and floated the idea of Barzani hosting secret talks in Erbil.
The Iranians didn’t rule the idea out, but were concerned over a few security issues, a source told Axios. In particular, the Iranians were concerned that Israel had intelligence agents in the area and would assassinate them either during the talks or when they were traveling there or on the way back.
As a result, the meeting never happened, and Pakistani and Omani mediators continued to help with the talks.
Recently, Barzani sent messages to the administration that he would be willing to help restart talks, which are at an impasse over the Strait of Hormuz.
McGurk told Axios the mediators were not the issue.
“It’s Iran’s policy on the Strait, and that’s unlikely to change anytime soon,” he said.
