Kurdish Gas Field Attack Inflames Iraqi Negotiations
2025-11-3017 view
The Khor Mor gas field, the largest in Iraqi Kurdistan, was forced to shut down in late November after an apparent drone attack.
While the assailants were not identified, the attack came days after national parliamentary elections which delivered significant gains to Masoud Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which heads the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG).
Since the November 11 poll, Kurdish forces have entered into negotiations with both Sunni and Shiite political forces in Baghdad, aimed at forming a government. The KRG is conditioning any such agreement on the passing of a new oil and gas law.
The U.S. has also been exerting intense pressure on the Iraqi federal government to bring a complete halt to imports of gas from neighboring Iran, instead relying on gas from the KRG, as well as possible imports from Azerbaijan.
It is quite possible that the Khor Mor attacks were intended to send a message to regional powers that the results of the elections do not necessarily imply that the balance of power has shifted in Iraq. The operation can also be read as a reminder that various forces are still able to deploy security and military options as they seek to preserve the traditional balance in the Iraqi political landscape.
This is likely to lead to yet more American pressure on Baghdad to restrict weapons to the hands of the state, amid accusations that undisciplined Iran-linked armed factions were responsible for the attack.
Another likely repercussion is increased American pressure regarding the appointment of an Iraqi prime minister sympathetic to non-state armed factions. Meanwhile, political forces continue to engage in intense discussions over the figure to assume the position
