Why Iran Fears an Independent Kurdistan

MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE

BY ALEX VATANKA

Tehran is increasingly nervous about a potential bid by Iraq’s Kurds for independence. First, an independent Kurdish state next door could incite Iran’s own Kurdish minority, setting a dangerous precedent in the multiethnic country. Second, the two countries likely to have the most leverage over an independent Kurdistan would be Turkey and Israel, Iran’s regional rivals. From Tehran’s perspective, a Kurdish blowback inside Iran and a Turkish and Israeli geopolitical win at its expense has to be thwarted.

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