The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on Sunday said that Baghdad is not prepared to stop attacks on Kurdish oil fields.

“Outlaw militias have made all of the Kurdistan Region’s oil, gas, and energy fields and facilities targets of their attacks. As a result of these terrorist attacks, production has been taken offline, leaving no oil available for export,” the KRG Ministry of Natural Resources said.

“Baghdad is not prepared to confront these terrorist attacks against the Kurdistan Region or to prevent them. To date, no effective measures have been taken to stop these assaults.”

“Many of the perpetrators behind these attacks receive salaries and support from Baghdad, while the salaries of the people of the Kurdistan Region are consistently delayed and cut.” 

The KRG statement came after Iraq's Federal Ministry of Oil issued a statement claiming that the Kurdistan Region is not ready to export oil through the pipeline to Turkey’s Ceyhan port.

“The Ministry’s statement does not address the full dimensions of the issue. It distorts the facts and attempts to blame the Kurdistan Region in order to mislead public opinion,” the KRG Ministry of Natural Resources said.

“Since January, the current government in Baghdad has imposed a suffocating embargo under the pretext of implementing the ASYCUDA system. It has prevented dollars from reaching the Kurdistan Region’s traders, effectively halting commercial activity. Baghdad has also failed to allocate the necessary time and arrangements for the Kurdistan Region to implement the system, something we requested from the beginning of this crisis.

”The KRG said that it is ready to help Iraq and the Kurdistan Region to overcome this crisis. “We have repeatedly called on Baghdad to begin a serious, constructive dialogue to resolve all of these issues. Instead, our requests have been ignored, and there are attempts to impose unconstitutional and illegal agendas on our region.”

Read More: Iraqi-paid Groups Targeted Refinery in Erbil: KRG Official

On Sunday, Aziz Ahmad, Deputy Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, confirmed that armed groups paid by the Iraqi state had attacked an oil facility in the Kurdistan Region.

Social media outlets linked to Iran-backed armed groups have published videos of two attacks on the Lanaz refinery in Erbil Governorate on March 13 and March 15. Furthermore, on March 6, the Sarsang oilfield operated by U.S. energy company HKN in Duhok Governorate was targeted with drone strikes.