US Congressman Trent Franks that Washington has to make sure that it protects the Kurds against Iran-backed Shi’ite militias of Iraq as they overrun Kurdish areas.

US Congressman Trent Franks that Washington has to make sure that it protects the Kurds against Iran-backed Shi’ite militias of Iraq as they overrun Kurdish areas. basnews

ERBIL — US Congressman Trent Franks that Washington has to make sure that it protects the Kurds against Iran-backed Shi’ite militias of Iraq as they overrun Kurdish areas.

“It is very important to protect them, and we do every thing to make it clear that we are on their side right now. And I have not seen that and I am very concerned about that,” said Franks during an interview on the CNN.

The remark comes after Iraqi Shi’ite militias of Hashd al-Shaabi, using US-donated arms to Iraqi government, attacked Kirkuk in northern Iraq where Kurdish Peshmerga forces had been protecting form Islamic State (IS) since mid 2014 when the Iraqi army collapsed.

“Last week our office issued a press release that said we saw these forces amassing and this was in fact something that we called up Prime Minister Abadi to keep his promise,” the Congressman said. “He promised that there will be no confrontations and military moves, and yet the fact is, as you said, Iran has insinuated itself to the Iraqi government, especially the military side that we don’t know who is doing what in Iraq right now.”

Franks pointed out that Kurds have been fighting terrorism as part of US allies in the region, and that they “have shown great courage to being able to stand up against IS when no one else stood with them”.

“Iraq has to back away from Iran because if they are a poppet of Iran, then we need to back away from Iraq and back the Kurds.”

Asked about his position on Kurdistan’s move towards independence, Franks said, “We should be the first to stand up for a group like the Kurds... I would back their independence.”