US Vice President Joe Biden warned Maliki any kind of attack by Iraqi forces against Kurdish Pishmarga is a red line for the US, adding if war breaks out in Kirkuk or any other location US forces will enter the scene, the Kurdish Peyamner News Agency reported on Sunday.
“US diplomats in Baghdad are trying to make contact with Barzani and Maliki. These efforts are taking place considering the clashes of Tuz Khormatu, aiming to reach a joint agreement on the disputed areas, conducting an investigation on the military-security status, dispersing Iraqi Army forces stationed in Iraqi Kurdistan regions and observing the Arbil and Suleimaniya airports ,” a senior Kurdish source also told the Kuwaiti Al-Seyassah daily on Sunday.
“One of the suggested solutions is the stationing of US forces in the disputed areas to guarantee the prevention of any clashes between Iraqi and Pishmarga forces. However, Maliki has rejected this suggestion,” this high-ranking source added.
“US Vice President Joe Biden, responsible for the Iraq dossier, has approved this suggestion to allow the US to avert any clashes and war between Baghdad and Arbil because the US believes this will deliver a serious blow to the efforts of the US that has been supervising Iraq’s political process for nearly 10 years,” the source explained.
US national security advisors believe Maliki’s measures are taking place based on foreign provocations and Maliki has the support of the Syrian government and various other regimes in the region, this news agency wrote referring to the meddling of the Iranian and Syrian regimes in Iraqi affairs.
These measures are taking place under the Dijla (Tigris) Operations Command, which has recently been expanded by the Iraqi prime minister in order to decrease the role of Turkey and Gulf Cooperation Council in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, Peyamner added.