Who really controls Kurdistan’s gas? The Dana Gas deal, the KRG’s silence and the hidden cost of selling energy to Iraq

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By Dr. Pshtiwan Faraj | Kurdish Policy Analysis      A $2.239 billion arbitration settlement, a contract running until 2049, expanded rights for Pearl Petroleum and a new battle over gas sales to Baghdad are raising uncomfortable questions about who ultimately controls Kurdistan’s most strategic natural resource. The latest dispute over Khor Mor gas is exposing a much deeper problem in the Kurdistan Region’s energy sector: the public still does not appear to have a clear picture of who controls the region’s gas, who is authorized to sell it, and how much of its future value has already been committed to private companies. At the center of the controversy is Pearl Petroleum, the consortium led by Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum, and a settlement agreement reached with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on August 30, 2017. Kurdistan Parliament member Kawa Sheikh Ali has now sharply criticized that agreement, asking why a government would effectively commit its natural ...
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IRGC Drone and Missile Strikes Kill Kurdish Opposition Members Near Erbil

Iran continues cross-border operations despite ceasefire claims, targeting opposition bases in Iraq

Three PDKI members killed, including two female Peshmerga, as Iranian strikes hit civilian camps and party sites in Kurdistan Region of Iraq

By Dr. Pshtiwan Faraj, SULAIMANI,  Kurdish Policy Analysis, April 22--  The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has killed at least three members of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) in drone and missile strikes on civilian camps and party installations in Erbil Governorate, Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Despite a two-week ceasefire having been announced between the United States, Israel, and Iran, the attacks took place on 17 April and killed Neda Miri from Sanandaj, Samira Allah-Yari from Divandarreh, and Shahin Azarbarzin from Piranshahr.

At noon on 17 April, the Islamic Republic carried out a drone strike on the PDKI’s civilian camp known as Jazhnikan, killing Azarbarzin and severely injuring his father, Nader Azarbarzin.

In a separate, simultaneous missile strike on a PDKI member headquarters in the Sidkan area of Erbil, two female Peshmerga, Miri and Allah-Yari, were killed and a further person was wounded.

These strikes are the latest in a sustained campaign of missile and drone attacks carried out by the IRGC and Islamic Republic proxy forces operating in Iraq against the Kurdistan Region, following the outbreak of war between the United States and Israel on one side and Iran on the other.

At least nine members of Kurdish opposition parties have been killed in these attacks, including members of the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan, the Khabat Organisation of Iranian Kurdistan, the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), the Komala Toilers of Kurdistan, and the PDKI.

Additionally, eight members of the Kurdistan Region’s security forces and two civilians have also lost their lives in the attacks.

Dozens of additional military personnel and civilians have been wounded, and hundreds of families have been forced to flee the camps in which they lived.

These strikes follow similar incidents near Erbil:
https://kurdishpolicyanalysis.blogspot.com/2026/04/iran-drone-strike-erbil-kurdish-base-attack.html

Analysts link the escalation to broader Kurdish strategic dynamics:
https://kurdishpolicyanalysis.blogspot.com/2026/04/iran-kurdish-wildcard-rojhelat-strategic-role-conflict.html

Related analysis:
US strategic thinking involving Kurdish groups:

https://kurdishpolicyanalysis.blogspot.com/2026/04/kurds-us-strategy-iran-geopolitical-narrative-analysis.html 

#Kurdistan #IRGC #IranIraqConflict #PDKI #Erbil #MiddleEastCrisis #BreakingNews

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