Jane Araf

Hi.

Well, as you know, the Kurds have long been strong U.S.

allies, including the fight against ISIS.

Now, this was Talabani's first interview with Western media since the start of the war.

And he wanted to make clear that neither Iraqi nor Iranian Kurds here would be part of the fight.

Let's listen.

Talabani is deputy prime minister for the entire Kurdistan region.

He says his brother, Vafal Talabani, who's head of the party that controls this part of Iraqi Kurdistan, spoke with Trump last week and relayed this message.

Talabani points out that in a country the size of Western Europe with 90 million people,

Iran and multiple ethnic groups, chaos would be disastrous.

Well, it is definitely squeezed in the middle.

On one side, there's Iran.

And on the other side, the pro-Iranian Iraqi government.

U.S.

military bases in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan region, have been the most heavily hit by Iran and Iran-backed Iraqi militias.

But Sulaymaniyah province, where we are, has also been attacked by drones and missiles.

Here's what Taliban said about those Iraqi attacks.

Yes.

He says the last time was just a few days ago when a high-level delegation alarmed by news reports that the U.S.

was pressing for armed opposition groups here to cross the border came from Tehran.