Iran's policy towards the Kurdistan Region: Partnership or transformation into a proxy force

Abstract

The study analyzes relations between Iran and the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, focusing in particular on whether Iran should have friendly relations with the Iraqi Kurdistan Region or treat it as a proxy force. Iran's foreign policy in Iraq has developed since 2003, with the main goal of strengthening the Shiite position and exerting political, economic and military influence on Iraq Iran has created several proxy groups to protect its interests and put pressure on its enemies. The study focuses on the reasons for the increased political, economic and military pressure of Iran and militias close to its regime against the Kurdistan Region, the most obvious of which was after the 2017 referendum, which intensified the conflict between the United States and Iran. This research has been conducted according to the descriptive-analytical approach, by analyzing the available information about Iran-Iraq relations in general and Iran-Iraq Kurdistan Region relations in particular. The results of the research indicate that Iran is very interested in making the Iraqi Kurdistan Region a proxy force belonging to it in the region, as opposed to having common friendly relations, which have taken serious steps for this purpose, not only by proxy forces Shiites close to her have tried to attract local national forces to implement the project. This research has been conducted according to the descriptive-analytical approach by analyzing the available information about Iran-Iraq relations in general and Iran-Kurdistan Region in particular, which has tried to provide a blind understanding of the factors that shape relations between Iran and the region Kurdistan, based on various sources such as academic research, reports of political research centers, journalistic publications and statements of political officials.