U.S. Calls on Iraqi PM to Stop Attacks on U.S. Companies in Kurdistan

July 23, 2025

In a phone call with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani on Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on the Iraqi Prime Minister to stop the recent attacks on energy infrastructure in the Kurdistan Region, which included attacks on U.S. companies.

According to the readout from the U.S. Department of State, Secretary Rubio “stressed the importance of the Iraqi government holding the perpetrators accountable and preventing future attacks.”

Furthermore, the U.S. Secretary noted the importance of paying Iraqi Kurdistan Region salaries consistently and resuming oil exports via the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline, which were stopped due to an arbitration court ruling against the exports in 2023.

On Tuesday, Baghdad agreed to pay the May salaries of the Kurdistan Region after the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Ministry of Finance deposited 120 billion Iraqi dinars into the bank account of the federal Ministry of Finance.

The KRG’s public employees did not receive their salaries for over 80 days after Iraq’s Ministry of Finance decided to stop paying salaries in May.

In a speech on Sunday, KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani underlined that the KRG has no issue with 230,000 barrels of oil being handed over to the federal government to be sold through the State Organization For Marketing of Oil (SOMO), and providing 120 billion Iraqi dinars in non-oil or domestic revenues.

However, he noted that currently the KRG cannot deliver 230,000 bpd due to the drone attacks that have damaged the Kurdistan Region’s oil production since July 14. Baghdad has reportedly agreed to the KRG sending currently produced oil to SOMO.

“We hope one day our oil production will reach a very high level. If there are no security problems, we have no issue delivering all of Kurdistan’s oil – except for the amount we require to provide gasoline, electricity, fuel, and people’s basic needs in the Kurdistan Region,” Prime Minister Barzani said. “Apart from that, we are ready to send everything, and we have no problem with that.

“We hope that the salaries of our people will finally be sent, and that this collective punishment will end, and the unconstitutional and illegal decision to cut off the salaries of the people of Kurdistan will come to an end,” he concluded.