Latest news with #MichaelKnights
Egypt Independent
20-07-2025
- Politics
- Egypt Independent
‘Nothing has changed': Iran tries to rearm proxy groups as US talks stall
CNN — Iran's armed proxies are ramping up pressure on key points in the Middle East as Tehran attempts to rebuild its regional influence, eroded by almost two years of a destructive Israeli military campaign. Tehran's Houthi allies in Yemen ended months of calm in the Red Sea last week with strikes on two commercial ships travelling in the critical waterway. Proxies in Iraq are suspected of disrupting oil production in the Kurdish region, and shipments of hundreds of rockets bound for Hezbollah in Lebanon have been intercepted by Syrian forces over the past months. The increasing activity by the proxies reflects Iran's determination to continue supporting a network of disruptive armed groups – long seen as essential to Tehran's deterrence strategy, despite their failure to deter recent Israeli and American attacks on Iranian soil – ahead of possible talks with Washington to reach a new nuclear deal. But so far, neither the United States nor Iran appears to be willing to make major compromises. 'Iran was never going to stop resupplying their groups,' said Michael Knights, a senior fellow at The Washington Institute specializing in the military and security affairs of Iraq, Iran and the Gulf states. 'They might not be able to send this much or regularly – more stuff might get intercepted – but if you're the (Iranian) Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force right now, what you're trying to show is 'we still exist, we're intact, nothing has changed.'' Israel launched an unprecedented attack on Iran last month, targeting and killing key military figures, including the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Hossein Salami, critical to sustaining and expanding the Islamic Republic's regional proxy network, and Behnam Shahriyari, who Israel says was responsible for weapons transfers to Tehran's proxies. But even as Iran reels from the loss of key military figures, it has persisted in arming those proxies, signaling that it still views them as a strategic asset to expand its regional leverage. Smoke rises in north Tehran on June 23, 2025. Elyas/AFP/Getty Images Yemen Just three days after a ceasefire was declared between Iran and Israel, a vessel carrying 750 tons of Iranian missiles and military equipment, including missiles, drone engines and radar systems, was intercepted in the Red Sea by forces loyal to Yemen's exiled government, the United States Central Command said Wednesday. It added that the 'massive Iranian weapons shipment' was destined for the Houthis. The interception, according to the US military, marked the 'largest weapons seizure' in the history of the Yemeni National Resistance Forces (NRF) – a pro-US, anti-Houthi group led by Tariq Saleh, the nephew of Yemen's late leader Ali Abdullah Saleh. The Iranian foreign ministry denied that it had sent weapons and called it a 'deceitful attempt' by the US to 'divert public opinion.' The Houthis in Yemen have used Iranian weaponry to launch attacks on both Israel and commercial vessels in the Red Sea. An attack on a Greek-owned ship last week killed four crew members, injured others and left 11 people missing, the European Union naval operation Aspides told CNN. Six of those on board were captured by the Houthis, a UK-based maritime risk management company, Vanguard Tech, told CNN. A screen grab taken from a handout video released on July 8, showing plumes of smoke rising from what is said to be Liberia-flagged, Greek-operated bulk carrier, the MV Magic Seas that was attacked off southwest Yemen. Houthi Media Center/Reuters Days before that, the Houthis targeted a Liberian-flagged bulk carrier, the Magic Seas, using unmanned boats, missiles and drones. The attacks, which sank the two vessels, appear to show an escalation of force and were the first recorded this year after months of calm in the busy waterway. Iraq Over the past few months, suspected Iran-backed groups have also increased their attacks on Western allies in Iraq, destabilizing oil output in the Kurdish-controlled region of the country. Five oil fields, including two operated by US companies, were hit after a 'spate of drone attacks' by 'criminal militias,' Aziz Ahmad, an official in the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), said on Wednesday. 'The KRG welcomed U.S. investment and companies. Now, those same investors are being pushed out in a calculated campaign to economically strangle us,' Ahmad said on X. Smoke billows from a damaged oil installation at the Sarsang oil field following a drone attack on the Chamanke district near the Kurdish city of Dohuk in northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region on July 16. Safin Hamid/AFP/Getty Images The spokesperson for the KRG Peshawa Hawramani told CNN that the drone attacks are 'intended to destroy the energy infrastructure' and to ensure that the KRG 'has no capacity to produce oil and gas, so it cannot use this as leverage in agreements or rely on it as a source of income.' The KRG's interior ministry blamed attacks earlier this month on the Popular Mobilization Units, a predominantly Shiite Iranian-backed paramilitary force based in Iraq. 'These attacks are being carried out… with the aim of creating chaos,' the interior ministry said after a bomb-laden drone landed near the KRG capital Erbil earlier this month. Lebanon Iran's regional influence has been substantially weakened since Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and Israel's subsequent campaign to root out Tehran's proxies from the region. Iran's key ally in Lebanon, Hezbollah, sought to support Hamas after October 7 by firing cross-border rockets and opening a second front against Israel. Since then, the group has been severely weakened, losing its once-dominant influence in Lebanon and facing growing internal and Western demands to disarm, as its fighters are targeted by near-daily Israeli strikes. The group's revered leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli strike last year and its key supply route in Syria was lost after the fall in December of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a crucial ally to Tehran. A person holds up a picture of late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in Israeli airstrikes last year, on the day of a public funeral ceremony in Beirut, Lebanon, on February 23. Mohammed Yassin/Reuters 'Hezbollah are losing sway, they've lost credibility with their own base. Of course, the Iranians are trying to reinforce some of their proxies to reinforce their negotiating hand, but they're not making much headway,' a regional official told CNN. Still, another regional source told CNN that Hezbollah could begin 'regrouping itself over the coming weeks' fearing an escalation from Israel. Hezbollah feels it is in an 'existential situation' because of the loss of Syria and the growing internal Lebanese pressure, the source added. Syria Iran's attempts to rearm Hezbollah have continued over the past year. The new Syrian government, which staunchly opposes Iran, has seized several shipments of weapons bound for Lebanon, according to the Syrian Interior Ministry. Last month, the Syrian interior ministry said in a statement that it had foiled an attempt to smuggle anti-tank Kornet missiles, the same type used by Hezbollah to target Israeli tanks in southern Lebanon. The Syrian police said the weapons were hidden in a truck carrying vegetables in the Homs countryside, which borders Lebanon. The first regional source who spoke to CNN questioned Tehran's purpose in arming proxy groups who had proven ineffective in protecting Iran, or achieving their stated mission of 'liberating Jerusalem.' 'Why are Hezbollah still arming? What have their arms given them? It has not given them protection, it has not brought them an inch closer to Jerusalem? What are these arms doing except causing misery to a civilian population?' the source said. Asked if Damascus was seeing Iranian attempts to arm Hezbollah, one senior Syrian government official told CNN, 'We're intercepting Iranian shipments quite often. Mostly seems to be collected locally and put together in small shipments to be smuggled to Lebanon.' 'We're also seeing clear activities to send money to networks in Syria through Iraq,' he added. A solider with Syria's ministry of defense forces at a house which Hezbollah and Iranian backed militia had used as a weapon storage in Palmyra, Syria, in March 2025. Salwan Georges/TheTrump in 'no rush' to talk Iran's rearming of groups across the Middle East comes as US President Donald Trump signals his waning interest in negotiations with Tehran. 'They want to negotiate badly. We're in no rush… we bombed the hell out of their various places, if they want to negotiate, we are here,' Trump said Wednesday. Ali Larijani, a senior adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, dismissed the idea that talks were imminent and downplayed their importance. 'Right now is not the time for talks. Negotiations are a tactic… we wait and see if the Supreme Leader finds it useful or not,' Larijani said in a televised statement on Friday. A sixth round of negotiations was scheduled June 15, but Israel's surprise attack the day prior disrupted the plans. Experts say rebuilding regional armed groups and showcasing their disruptive capabilities could serve as leverage for Iran, as it looks to negotiate from a position of strength despite its recent losses. 'It will strengthen their hand, in theory, to show that they are not just rolling over and subservient… they want to appear defiant but not enough that the US hits them,' Knights said.
Egypt Independent
20-07-2025
- Politics
- Egypt Independent
‘Nothing has changed': Iran tries to rearm proxy groups as US talks stall
CNN — Iran's armed proxies are ramping up pressure on key points in the Middle East as Tehran attempts to rebuild its regional influence, eroded by almost two years of a destructive Israeli military campaign. Tehran's Houthi allies in Yemen ended months of calm in the Red Sea last week with strikes on two commercial ships travelling in the critical waterway. Proxies in Iraq are suspected of disrupting oil production in the Kurdish region, and shipments of hundreds of rockets bound for Hezbollah in Lebanon have been intercepted by Syrian forces over the past months. The increasing activity by the proxies reflects Iran's determination to continue supporting a network of disruptive armed groups – long seen as essential to Tehran's deterrence strategy, despite their failure to deter recent Israeli and American attacks on Iranian soil – ahead of possible talks with Washington to reach a new nuclear deal. But so far, neither the United States nor Iran appears to be willing to make major compromises. 'Iran was never going to stop resupplying their groups,' said Michael Knights, a senior fellow at The Washington Institute specializing in the military and security affairs of Iraq, Iran and the Gulf states. 'They might not be able to send this much or regularly – more stuff might get intercepted – but if you're the (Iranian) Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force right now, what you're trying to show is 'we still exist, we're intact, nothing has changed.'' Israel launched an unprecedented attack on Iran last month, targeting and killing key military figures, including the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Hossein Salami, critical to sustaining and expanding the Islamic Republic's regional proxy network, and Behnam Shahriyari, who Israel says was responsible for weapons transfers to Tehran's proxies. But even as Iran reels from the loss of key military figures, it has persisted in arming those proxies, signaling that it still views them as a strategic asset to expand its regional leverage. Smoke rises in north Tehran on June 23, 2025. Elyas/AFP/Getty Images Yemen Just three days after a ceasefire was declared between Iran and Israel, a vessel carrying 750 tons of Iranian missiles and military equipment, including missiles, drone engines and radar systems, was intercepted in the Red Sea by forces loyal to Yemen's exiled government, the United States Central Command said Wednesday. It added that the 'massive Iranian weapons shipment' was destined for the Houthis. The interception, according to the US military, marked the 'largest weapons seizure' in the history of the Yemeni National Resistance Forces (NRF) – a pro-US, anti-Houthi group led by Tariq Saleh, the nephew of Yemen's late leader Ali Abdullah Saleh. The Iranian foreign ministry denied that it had sent weapons and called it a 'deceitful attempt' by the US to 'divert public opinion.' The Houthis in Yemen have used Iranian weaponry to launch attacks on both Israel and commercial vessels in the Red Sea. An attack on a Greek-owned ship last week killed four crew members, injured others and left 11 people missing, the European Union naval operation Aspides told CNN. Six of those on board were captured by the Houthis, a UK-based maritime risk management company, Vanguard Tech, told CNN. A screen grab taken from a handout video released on July 8, showing plumes of smoke rising from what is said to be Liberia-flagged, Greek-operated bulk carrier, the MV Magic Seas that was attacked off southwest Yemen. Houthi Media Center/Reuters Days before that, the Houthis targeted a Liberian-flagged bulk carrier, the Magic Seas, using unmanned boats, missiles and drones. The attacks, which sank the two vessels, appear to show an escalation of force and were the first recorded this year after months of calm in the busy waterway. Iraq Over the past few months, suspected Iran-backed groups have also increased their attacks on Western allies in Iraq, destabilizing oil output in the Kurdish-controlled region of the country. Five oil fields, including two operated by US companies, were hit after a 'spate of drone attacks' by 'criminal militias,' Aziz Ahmad, an official in the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), said on Wednesday. 'The KRG welcomed U.S. investment and companies. Now, those same investors are being pushed out in a calculated campaign to economically strangle us,' Ahmad said on X. Smoke billows from a damaged oil installation at the Sarsang oil field following a drone attack on the Chamanke district near the Kurdish city of Dohuk in northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region on July 16. Safin Hamid/AFP/Getty Images The spokesperson for the KRG Peshawa Hawramani told CNN that the drone attacks are 'intended to destroy the energy infrastructure' and to ensure that the KRG 'has no capacity to produce oil and gas, so it cannot use this as leverage in agreements or rely on it as a source of income.' The KRG's interior ministry blamed attacks earlier this month on the Popular Mobilization Units, a predominantly Shiite Iranian-backed paramilitary force based in Iraq. 'These attacks are being carried out… with the aim of creating chaos,' the interior ministry said after a bomb-laden drone landed near the KRG capital Erbil earlier this month. Lebanon Iran's regional influence has been substantially weakened since Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and Israel's subsequent campaign to root out Tehran's proxies from the region. Iran's key ally in Lebanon, Hezbollah, sought to support Hamas after October 7 by firing cross-border rockets and opening a second front against Israel. Since then, the group has been severely weakened, losing its once-dominant influence in Lebanon and facing growing internal and Western demands to disarm, as its fighters are targeted by near-daily Israeli strikes. The group's revered leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli strike last year and its key supply route in Syria was lost after the fall in December of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a crucial ally to Tehran. A person holds up a picture of late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in Israeli airstrikes last year, on the day of a public funeral ceremony in Beirut, Lebanon, on February 23. Mohammed Yassin/Reuters 'Hezbollah are losing sway, they've lost credibility with their own base. Of course, the Iranians are trying to reinforce some of their proxies to reinforce their negotiating hand, but they're not making much headway,' a regional official told CNN. Still, another regional source told CNN that Hezbollah could begin 'regrouping itself over the coming weeks' fearing an escalation from Israel. Hezbollah feels it is in an 'existential situation' because of the loss of Syria and the growing internal Lebanese pressure, the source added. Syria Iran's attempts to rearm Hezbollah have continued over the past year. The new Syrian government, which staunchly opposes Iran, has seized several shipments of weapons bound for Lebanon, according to the Syrian Interior Ministry. Last month, the Syrian interior ministry said in a statement that it had foiled an attempt to smuggle anti-tank Kornet missiles, the same type used by Hezbollah to target Israeli tanks in southern Lebanon. The Syrian police said the weapons were hidden in a truck carrying vegetables in the Homs countryside, which borders Lebanon. The first regional source who spoke to CNN questioned Tehran's purpose in arming proxy groups who had proven ineffective in protecting Iran, or achieving their stated mission of 'liberating Jerusalem.' 'Why are Hezbollah still arming? What have their arms given them? It has not given them protection, it has not brought them an inch closer to Jerusalem? What are these arms doing except causing misery to a civilian population?' the source said. Asked if Damascus was seeing Iranian attempts to arm Hezbollah, one senior Syrian government official told CNN, 'We're intercepting Iranian shipments quite often. Mostly seems to be collected locally and put together in small shipments to be smuggled to Lebanon.' 'We're also seeing clear activities to send money to networks in Syria through Iraq,' he added. A solider with Syria's ministry of defense forces at a house which Hezbollah and Iranian backed militia had used as a weapon storage in Palmyra, Syria, in March 2025. Salwan Georges/TheTrump in 'no rush' to talk Iran's rearming of groups across the Middle East comes as US President Donald Trump signals his waning interest in negotiations with Tehran. 'They want to negotiate badly. We're in no rush… we bombed the hell out of their various places, if they want to negotiate, we are here,' Trump said Wednesday. Ali Larijani, a senior adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, dismissed the idea that talks were imminent and downplayed their importance. 'Right now is not the time for talks. Negotiations are a tactic… we wait and see if the Supreme Leader finds it useful or not,' Larijani said in a televised statement on Friday. A sixth round of negotiations was scheduled June 15, but Israel's surprise attack the day prior disrupted the plans. Experts say rebuilding regional armed groups and showcasing their disruptive capabilities could serve as leverage for Iran, as it looks to negotiate from a position of strength despite its recent losses. 'It will strengthen their hand, in theory, to show that they are not just rolling over and subservient… they want to appear defiant but not enough that the US hits them,' Knights said.
Mint
18-07-2025
- Politics
- Mint
Iran is moving to rearm its militia allies
Iran suffered a significant setback when Israel killed top military leaders and the U.S. struck its nuclear facilities, but a pattern of high-value weapons seizures shows Tehran is making new efforts to arm its militia allies across the Middle East. Forces allied with Yemen's internationally recognized government this week intercepted a major shipment of missiles, drone parts and other military gear sent to Houthi rebels on the Red Sea coast. Syria's new government says it has seized a number of weapons cargoes, including Grad rockets—for use in multiple-launch systems mounted on trucks—along its borders with Iraq and Lebanon. The Lebanese army, meanwhile, has seized shipments brought in across its border with Syria that include Russian antitank missiles favored by Hezbollah. 'Iran is rebuilding its presence in the Levant by sending missiles to Hezbollah and weapons from Iraq to Syria," said Michael Knights, a senior fellow at the U.S.-based Washington Institute for Near East Policy with expertise in Iran's militia allies. Yemeni forces said Wednesday they had seized a record number of Iranian missiles destined for the Houthis. The shipment was intercepted by the National Resistance Force, a military coalition aligned with the Yemeni government. The U.S. Central Command, which is responsible for America's military operations in the Middle East, said it was the National Resistance Force's largest seizure of advanced Iranian conventional weapons—750 tons of cruise missiles, antiship and antiaircraft missiles, warheads, targeting components and drone engines. The shipments were hidden aboard a ship called a dhow, beneath declared cargoes of air conditioners. They included Iranian-developed Qader antiship missiles and components for the Saqr air-defense system, which the Houthis have used to bring down U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drones. Previous seizures by the Yemeni and U.S. governments generally yielded small arms or spare parts rather than fully assembled missiles. The seizure comes just weeks after a cease-fire stopped Israel's 12-day air campaign against Iran—a series of attacks that demonstrated Iran's vulnerability despite the arsenal of missiles and militia allies it had built up to protect itself. The U.S. joined in the attack by bombing key Iranian nuclear facilities. This spring, the U.S. pounded Houthi positions for nearly two months in an effort that ended with a cease-fire and left the Houthis looking for more high-end hardware. 'The timing and scale of this shipment strongly suggest Iran is moving quickly to replenish Houthi stockpiles depleted by U.S. airstrikes," said Mohammed al-Basha, founder of U.S.-based Middle East security advisory Basha Report. It shows Tehran wants to 'sustain their high operational tempo targeting Israel and commercial maritime traffic," he said. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei on Thursday said any claim Tehran had sent weapons to Yemen was baseless. The resupply effort might already be yielding results. Last week, Houthi fighters used rocket-propelled grenades, missiles and drones to sink two merchant ships in the Red Sea, killing at least three crew members and taking others hostage. The militant group has also been lobbing ballistic missiles at Israel for weeks, though most are intercepted. While the seized cargoes transited through the East African country of Djibouti, which sits across the mouth of the Red Sea from Yemen, the National Resistance Force found multiple documents in Farsi indicating their origin was Iran. The documents included a manual for cameras used to guide antiaircraft missiles and a quality certificate attached to a missile fin manufactured by an Iranian company. Iran's efforts to move weapons to Hezbollah have been extensive as well. The militant group was forced into a cease-fire last fall after an Israeli campaign of covert operations, airstrikes and a ground incursion wiped out most of its arsenal and leadership. There has been 'an intensifying trend in recent months of smuggling attempts via or originating from Syria" to Lebanon's Hezbollah, said Michael Cardash, the former deputy head of the bomb disposal division at Israel's national police. The arms pipeline has been crimped by the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime, which was aligned with Iran, and its replacement by a hostile government. Traffickers now have to bring in arms in small shipments after previously sending truckloads, said Cardash, who is now in charge of explosives research at Israeli security consulting firm Terrogence. In one example in June, the Interior Ministry of the new Syrian government announced it had seized Russian-made Kornet antitank missiles en route to Lebanon in a truck transporting cucumbers. In May, the General Security branch intercepted Iranian-made air-defense missiles near the Lebanese border, according to media outlets affiliated with the new Syrian government. Despite extensive efforts to keep Hezbollah from restocking its battered arsenal, the militant group, like the Houthis, has had some success. It manufactures its own drones and medium-range rockets, and has managed to restructure its smuggling networks to a degree and smuggle in some Kornets and other sophisticated weaponry, a person familiar with the group's operations said. Write to Benoit Faucon at
Nahar Net
18-07-2025
- Politics
- Nahar Net
Smuggling attempts to Hezbollah increasing via Syria, report says
Tehran is reportedly making new efforts to arm its allies including Hezbollah across the Middle East. Senior fellow at the Washington Institute for near east policy Michael Knights said that "Iran is rebuilding its presence in the Levant by sending missiles to Hezbollah and weapons from Iraq to Syria". Smuggling attempts to Hezbollah are increasing via Syria, though a hostile government in Damascus has crimped the arms pipeline, said Michael Cardash, the former deputy head of the Israeli National Police Bomb Disposal Division, adding that traffickers have now to smuggle arms in small shipments instead of sending truckloads. The Wall Street Journal said Hezbollah is now manufacturing its own drones and medium-range rockets and has somewhat rebuilt its smuggling networks. The group has managed to smuggle in some Kornet missiles and other advanced weapons, the American newspaper said. The Israeli army meanwhile claimed that Hezbollah is attempting to rebuild its capabilities in several locations. The statement came after separate Israeli strikes on south Lebanon killed four people including a woman Thursday. Last month, Syria's new government said it seized a number of weapons cargoes, including Grad rockets mounted on trucks along its borders with Iraq and Lebanon, while fighters allied to Yemen's exiled government had claimed Wednesday they had seized 750 tons of Iranian-supplied missiles and weaponry bound for the country's Houthi rebels.
Middle East Eye
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
Drone attacks target western oil companies in Iraq's Kurdistan
An armed drone struck an oil field in northern Iraq's Kurdistan region on Thursday, according to Kurdish forces, the second strike in two days on the Norwegian-run site. Smoke billowed throughout the morning from the strike on the facility in the Sarsang block, located in the town of Chamanke. Middle East Eye was among the news organisations granted exclusive access to the facility operated by the US company HKN Energy. Security personnel at the site cautioned reporters to keep their distance due to ongoing gas leaks following the attack. Guards at Kurdish oil fields in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq are armed with Kalashnikov rifles and PKM machine guns, locally known as BKC. Empty bullet casings were scattered on the ground, evidence of an earlier attempt to repel the drone attack on the facility. A video posted Wednesday from the Tawke oil field in Zakho, operated by Norwegian company DNO, shows guards firing machine guns in an attempt to fend off a drone. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters However the press visit to the site was cut short due to a security alert. The Kurdistan Region's Counter-Terrorism Service later said that a drone had struck an oil facility operated by DNO in Zakho, one of the locations included in the planned tour. Separately, another drone crashed in the village of Surezha, near the Erbil Gas Power Station. Oil fields targeted Since 14 July, at least six oil fields have been targeted by drone attacks, including sites operated by US companies - HKN and Hunt Oil were each hit twice - and DNO, which was also struck twice. Drone attacks have also occurred in other areas, both before and after 14 July, particularly near the US consulate in Erbil, the Erbil airport, and the 70s Peshmerga base in Sulaymaniyah. Drone attacks have increased in the Kurdistan Region since the 12-day war between Israel and Iran ended on 24 June. 'The drone attacks in Kurdish energy sites grew out of a sequence of drone attacks since 19 June on Kurdish security forces, where Iraqi militias were claiming that Kurdistan was supporting Israeli and US strikes on Iran,' Michael Knights, a senior fellow at The Washington Institute, told MEE. A general view shows the Sarsang oil field in the Chamanke district near the Kurdish city of Dohuk in northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdish, 17 July 2025 (Wladimir van Wilgenburg/MEE) Kurdish officials have claimed neutrality in the war. On 13 June, Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani condemned Israel's attack on Iran and spoke with the Iranian foreign minister during the conflict - a stance welcomed by Iranian state media. 'On July 14 this drone and rocket campaign on Kurdistan and Kirkuk transitioned to an attack on Kurdistan's energy. The switch happened because Iran-backed militias in Iraq's government want to push back on Kurdistan Region, and US pressure from Baghdad about salary payments and energy contracts. This is a counter-pressure campaign by Baghdad militias,' Knights said. 'We know exactly who's behind these attacks and where they're coming from' - Aziz Ahmad, deputy chief of staff, Kurdistan Regional Government These attacks are not new. According to a Washington Kurdish Institute report, Iran and Iranian-backed armed groups in Iraq launched 32 attacks on the Kurdistan Region between September 2018 and October 2023. An analyst said the attacks appear aimed at disrupting the Kurdistan Region's oil infrastructure and delaying a potential energy agreement with Baghdad. Mahmood Baban, research fellow at the Rudaw Research Center, said the attacks appear aimed at disrupting the Kurdistan Region's oil infrastructure and delaying a potential energy agreement with Baghdad. Baban added that they also demonstrate the attackers' technical capability and lack of concern for the consequences. "The oil and gas fields in the Kurdistan Region do not have adequate protection systems so far. If they did, the attacks would not have such huge economic impacts,' he said. Erbil-Baghdad negotiations Since last month, there have been several negotiations between Erbil and Baghdad to resume suspended oil exports from the Kurdistan Region. The exports were suspended after a 2023 ruling by an arbitration court in Paris that found Turkey in violation of an agreement with Iraq by allowing independent Kurdish oil exports. In May, Iraq's finance ministry suspended salary payments to Kurdish public employees, accusing Kurdish authorities of exceeding their 12.67 percent share of the federal budget and failing to deliver the agreed volume of oil to the state-owned oil company. 'Hollow victory': Iraq is not really a winner in the Turkey oil arbitration case Read More » Analysts saw the move as retaliation for two energy deals, worth $110bn, the Kurdish government signed in Washington with US firms, including HKN, without Baghdad's approval in May. A Kurdish official, speaking to MEE on condition of anonymity, blamed the Popular Mobilisation Front (PMF) 'and other militias aligned with the Iraqi government' for 'targeting Kurdistan's oil fields and economic infrastructure.' Aziz Ahmad, deputy chief of staff to Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, also blamed 'criminal militias on the Iraqi government payroll'. On 15 July, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, who is also the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, ordered an investigation into the drone attacks on oil facilities in the Kurdistan Region and vowed to hold those responsible to account. However, Kurdish officials have complained that the perpetrators are well known and that action has been limited. 'We know exactly who's behind these attacks and where they're coming from,' Ahmad said. Tensions escalated earlier, on 5 July, when Sudani's military spokesperson condemned a statement by the KRG interior ministry accusing PMF groups of involvement in the attacks, calling the allegations against an official security institution 'unacceptable'. 'Duty to protect' Myles B Caggins III, spokesperson for the Association of the Petroleum Industry of Kurdistan (APIKUR), which represents the majority of international oil companies operating in the Kurdistan Region, called on Baghdad to stop the drone attacks. 'The government of Iraq must take immediate action to protect the commercial oil production sites in the Kurdistan Region. After three days of attacks on this critical petroleum infrastructure, we are alarmed, and we are taking appropriate precautions to protect our personnel and our facilities,' Caggins told MEE. 'Most APIKUR member companies have temporarily paused oil production operations, and each day that operations are paused, there is a great financial loss to the people of Iraq.' The United States has also strongly condemned the drone attacks on its companies. 'Over 60 percent of KRG oil production has been halted due to the strikes in the past three days' - Mehmet Alaca, analyst 'The Government of Iraq has a duty to protect its territory and all of its citizens,' US Department of State spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement on Wednesday. 'These strikes target international companies that are working with Iraq to invest in Iraq's future.' Ankara-based analyst Mehmet Alaca told Middle East Eye that Baghdad has long used hard power to undermine Erbil and curb its autonomy. 'The ongoing attacks on oil fields, even as negotiations between Erbil and Baghdad reach their final stages, are a clear indication of this. Over 60 percent of KRG oil production has been halted due to the strikes in the past three days. The attacks appear aimed at forcing Erbil into concessions,' Alaca said. 'Erbil has always been an easy target for Iran. Erbil is chosen for its retaliation against Israel. The current use of similar tactics by militia groups is a tactic learned from their patrons. 'Unable to maintain its internal political integrity and with its economic weakness deepening, the KRG will be even more vulnerable to Baghdad.' On Thursday, the Iraqi government approved a deal with the KRG to resume oil exports from the Kurdistan region and the salary payments for public employees. Barzani welcomed Baghdad's decision and called for an end to the attacks on the Kurdistan Region, including its oil infrastructure. 'We hope the federal government will assist in identifying those responsible and in taking the necessary legal measures against them,' Barzani said.
