Quote Originally Posted by JKM4767 View Post
I wasn't even tracking there was an Iranian consulate there. I am suprised the Kurds and the PUK didn't do anything earlier. Nice city, though, well for Iraq anyway.
The PUK has traditionally had a close relationship with Iran. Hell, after their post-Desert Storm uprising was crushed, there were far more Kurds who fled to Iran than there those who went to Turkey. But it was the masses huddled on the Turkish border who forced the intiation of OPC, and ended up receiving the lion's share of aid and assistance.

And during the KDP-PUK civil war, the KDP invited the Iraqi Army into Irbil back in Aug 96 because the PUK had been receiving direct Iranian support in their internecine squabble. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face....

Of course, the broader record is mixed - Iran has always followed its own interests in whatever support it provided to one or another Kurdish faction. The most famous being the manner in which Iran (and the US) cut off and abandoned the Iraqi Kurds in '74.

There's certainly a lot more behind the raid than is being casually mentioned in the media. And the results/fall-out will be interesting to watch.