Nechirvan Barzani

Nechirvan Barzani, president of the Kurdish autonomy in Iraq, studied law at the University of Tehran and speaks fluent Persian, yet his government is close to Washington and suffers from Iran's heavy hand. His rule is a symbol of an almost impossible aspiration for regional stability, and the assistance he provided to the Americans in accessing the top brass of the IRGC demonstrates the complex...

At the height of negotiations with Iran, the Americans tried to understand if the Iranian negotiating team was acting with the knowledge of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) - and took an unusual step. They turned to the president of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq, who enjoys the trust of both the US and senior officials in the Revolutionary Guards, to verify this for them. He reached out directly to...