Inside Trump's Iran backchannel: How Iraq's Barzani helped the US prez reach IRGC
The Trump administration secretly reached out to Iran’s powerful IRGC through Iraq's Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani after US officials doubted whether Iran’s negotiators had authority to seal a deal.
The Trump administration sought an unconventional method to communicate directly with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) after their negotiators questioned the authority of their Iranian counterparts to finalize a deal, according to Axios. Nechirvan Barzani, president of Iraq's Kurdistan region, was chosen as the intermediary due to his extensive relationships with both Washington and senior Iranian officials.
On May 14, an IRGC official visited Barzani's office in Erbil with an encrypted phone for a secure call. Barzani inquired about Vahidi's support for the Iranian negotiating team, which the IRGC commander affirmed, stating that the IRGC preferred resolving the crisis through negotiations, according to Axios. The Trump administration subsequently proposed secret talks between senior US and Iranian negotiators in Erbil, though this did not materialize due to Iranian security concerns over their officials.
Despite this setback, Barzani has offered to assist in restarting US-Iran negotiations, though the main obstacle appears to be Iran's stance on the Strait of Hormuz.
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