Kurdistan pursues its own economic connectivity with Iran

 

NYT piece on how the Kurds are facilitating Iranian oil exports, pocketing the profits in a way than angers Baghdad.

Analysts say that the Kurdish region’s oil trade with Iran provides a revenue source that it does not have to share with Baghdad, at least for now, diminishing its reliance on exports to Turkey. It also grants them leverage in resolving oil and internal border disputes with Baghdad.

“They can negotiate from a position of strength,” says Ruba Husari, an oil specialist and founder of Iraqoilforum.com. “They are running their own oil kingdom.”

But questions about the legitimacy of the region’s oil activities are increasingly coming from within.

“Kurdistan is like an island with no rule of law when it comes to oil,” says Abdulla Malla-Nuri, a member of the region’s Parliament from the Gorran opposition movement, which broke away from one of the governing parties last year and has accused them of rampant corruption.

Kurdistan is acting in its own best interests, as one might expect of a state-within-a-state.  The US under Obama hasn't exactly gone out of its way to work with the Kurds, and they return the favor.