The leader of Iraq's Kurdish region says nobody forced his area to join the war between the US and Israel on one side and Iran on the other — and that the region wants no part of any regional conflict. Prime Minister Masrour Barzani made the comments in an Al Jazeera interview published August 8, 2026. The problem is that the Kurdish region is suffering the consequences of a war it never chose to enter.

Iraq's Kurdistan Region is a self-governing area in northern Iraq. It has its own government, called the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), its own capital in the city of Erbil, and its own security forces. But it is still part of Iraq. Barzani said the region's roads, power systems, and buildings have been badly damaged by more than 1,000 missile and drone attacks since the war on Iran started on February 28, 2026. The attacks have come from Iran itself or from armed groups inside Iraq that are loyal to Iran. That makes the Kurdish region one of the most heavily attacked places in the conflict, even though it is not fighting in the war. Barzani had already warned of this position before the war began, telling media in February 2026 that the Kurdistan Region "will do everything possible to stay out of any confrontation between the United States and Iran" The National.

One of the worst attacks happened in March 2026. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — a powerful military force that answers directly to Iran's top leader — fired five missiles at a military base called al-Harir, near Erbil. Iran called it "the headquarters of the invading US army." But Barzani said the base was empty when it was hit. No US troops had been stationed there for almost ten years, since the defeat of ISIL, the extremist group also known as the Islamic State. Barzani said some US troops remained in Erbil to fight terrorism, and that those troops had been repeatedly attacked Al Jazeera.

The fact that Iran struck an empty base raises questions about how good Iran's intelligence was when it chose that target. Barzani did not offer a guess about Iran's reasons. What is clear is that the Kurdish region has taken an unfair share of damage: more than 1,000 attacks on civilian and military sites in under six months, all while saying it is neutral.

Barzani also talked about weapons inside Iraq. He said the KRG supports the Iraqi government's push to make sure only official government forces are allowed to carry weapons — not independent armed groups. Iraq's Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi made the same point in a May 2026 speech to parliament, setting a deadline of September 30 for all armed groups to hand over their weapons to the government. The big question is whether militias aligned with Iran will actually obey that deadline. The KRG's support for the policy matters, but it does not by itself change who actually has the most armed power on the ground.

Barzani also discussed the region's relationships with other countries. He said the KRG has no relationship with Israel. He said ties with Syria and Turkiye are growing through "mutual cooperation." The Syria connection is especially important: KRG President Nechirvan Barzani visited Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus. That was the first time an Iraqi Kurdish leader had visited Syria since Bashar al-Assad fell from power in December 2024. The visit suggests the KRG is trying to build its own relationships with the new Syria, rather than waiting for Iraq's central government to set the terms.

The KRG's diplomacy is happening against a backdrop of internal tension. The region's main political party, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), won elections in October 2024, but a disagreement with the other main Kurdish party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), has made it hard to form a new government. Fighting between Kurdish groups has happened before, though PUK leader Bafel Talabani said in a 2018 Al Jazeera interview that "another intra-Kurdish conflict will not happen." The current situation, with outside attacks draining resources, adds pressure on both sides to settle their differences.

US President Donald Trump and Israel have suggested that giving weapons to Kurdish fighters inside Iran could shift the balance of power there. Kurds make up about 10 percent of Iran's population. Barzani's firm rejection of joining the war, and his denial that anyone pressured the region, can be read as a response to that idea. If Kurdish fighters opened a new front inside Iran, the Kurdish region in Iraq would almost certainly face more retaliation — and it has already been hit hard enough.

Barzani also condemned "in the strongest terms" an air strike in Iraq that killed three militia fighters and two Iraqi police officers in March 2026. His willingness to speak out regardless of who carried out the attack fits with his overall approach. His February 2026 promise to stay out of the conflict, repeated and broadened in the August interview, has been consistent.

The hard truth for the KRG is that saying you are neutral does not make missiles stop falling or militias give up their guns. With Baghdad's September 30 weapons deadline getting closer and the Iran war showing no signs of ending, the Kurdish region's ability to stay out of the fight may depend less on its own words than on what happens in Tehran, Washington, and the militia-held areas of Iraq.