Washington is “not taking sides” following clashes between Iraqi forces and the country’s Kurds, US President Donald Trump said Monday, as tensions escalate following the autonomous Kurdish region’s independence referendum.
Speaking after Iraqi troops and tanks swept across the northern province capturing oil and military targets from the Kurds and seizing the governor’s office in Kirkuk city, Trump made clear he was not going to inject himself into the dispute between two US allies in the fight against the Islamic State group.
“We’re not taking sides, but we don’t like the fact that they’re clashing,” Trump told journalists. “We’ve had for many years a very good relationship with the Kurds.
“We’ve also been on the side of Iraq,” he said, “but we’re not taking sides in that battle.”
