Kurdistan regional government denies Khamenei’s advisors allegations it helped anti- Iran group

The Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) has denied remarks made by General Yahya Rahim Safavi, the military adviser of Iran’s Supreme Guide, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that President Masoud Barzani had allowed the Saudi consulate in Erbil to supply weapons to a group hostile to Iran, describing the allegations as “baseless”.

The Kurdish government said in a statement on Tuesday that the remarks by General Safavi “serve to destabilize the long and friendly relations between the KRG and Iran and constitute an intervention in the KRG internal affairs”.

“We challenge Safavi to produce a single document proving that the [Kurdish] regional government poses a threat to Iran,” the government said, adding that it hopes that Safavi’s remarks did not represent official Iranian policy.

The statement added that KRG does not accept in any way such threats, noting that if there are security-related issues between the two sides, they should be discussed by the joint Commission that was formed between the two sides earlier.

Safavi noted at a press conference held in Tehran earlier Monday, that the KRG and Barzani enjoyed “good relations” with Saudi Arabia, Israel and the US, before accusing KRG and its president of allowing the Saudi consulate in Erbil of supplying “weapons” to a group hostile to his country.