The independence referendum in Iraqi Kurdistan is a hot issue in the Iranian press, with ongoing coverage of the vote and its aftermath. Along with the Iranian government, most media outlets are reacting negatively to the plebiscite, worried that such demands will spill into the Kurdish part of Iran.
Hard-line Kayhan daily, whose editor-in-chief, Hossein Shariatmadari, is appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, opined that Western powers and Israel were behind the referendum “plot” to destabilize the Middle East. “The Zionists and the leaders of the Israeli regime, who voiced their concern over the elimination of takfiris and Daesh [Islamic State (IS)] from the regional equations during recent weeks and months, have been deeply excited about a referendum being conducted in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq,” Shariatmadari wrote in a news report in Kayhan on Sept. 26.
The report continued, “[Kurdistan Region President Massoud] Barzani, as he himself says, seeks to establish an independent state in Iraq based on Kurdish ethnicity by holding a referendum. If Barzani's policy in the entire region of West Asia becomes a [common] course of action, it will have dangerous [consequences].”
Noting the United States' and the West’s opposition to the referendum, Kayhan added, “It should not be ignored that Washington and Western governments’ opposition [to the vote] is limited to the timing of the referendum, and they have no problem with the referendum itself.”
Furthermore, Ali Akbar Velayati, a former foreign minister who now serves as foreign policy adviser to Khamenei, described Barzani as a fixer working for “Zionists” bent on causing the disintegration of Muslim states. “Barzani, unfortunately, has long been connected with the Zionists. … Barzani's connection to the Israelis is the beginning of his political fallout,” said Velayati on Sept. 26. He added, “The people of Iran and the region do not stand silent against this move and this deviation. Barzani will have to retreat; otherwise, he will be confronted.”
Heshmatollah Falhat-Pishe, a Kurdish member of the Iranian parliament, argued that the referendum would lead to a serious conflict between peshmerga forces and Iraqi security forces, including the Popular Mobilization Units, amid the possibility of new action by IS forces who are still in Iraq — including the Kurdish parts of the country.
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