Live: Red notices ‘requested’ in Theft of The Century probe; progress in talks on unified hydrocarbons law

Local Kurdish media report that a colonel in the Peshmerga forces, Fuad Shahid Zirara, was fatally shot in Erbil this morning.

The incident reportedly occurred near Erbil Airport, where the colonel was injured during a shootout with unidentified assailants. Zirara later died before reaching the hospital.

If confirmed, this would be the second death of a Peshmerga member associated with the KDP in the past two weeks. Retired Brig. Gen. Mohammed Mirza was assassinated on July 23 when his car exploded, reportedly due to a sticky bomb. The KDP-controlled Kurdistan Region Security Council later accused the PKK of carrying out the assassination.

Though relations between the PKK and the KDP have always been strained, clashes between the two sides have been rare in the past year. As Turkey intensifies its campaign against the group, the PKK might be retaliating against the KDP, viewing it as a partner of the "fascist AKP-MHP government" in Turkey.

Karwan Yarawais, a PUK MP in Baghdad and member of the Parliamentary Transportation and Telecommunication Committee, says the order to ban the popular social media app Telegram doesn't apply to the Kurdistan Region.

In a statement to Draw Media, Yarawais also confirmed that the order to ban the app was related to the leaking of official government documents and data on the platform.

The Kurdistan Region operates under its own telecommunication policy and is often unaffected by many decisions made at the federal level, including site bans, nationwide blackouts, internet service provider tariffs, and more.

Just a week after a joint KDP-PUK statement that claimed both sides agreed to "support the agreements of the ninth cabinet of the KRG," the head of the PUK caucus in Baghdad, Harem Kamal Agha, harshly criticized the conduct and agreements of the KRG with Baghdad in a statement to PUK's official media.

Kamal Agha claimed, "the KRG has not followed through with its commitment to deliver the amount of oil stipulated in the Federal Budget Law, and the KRG delegation, during a visit to Baghdad, announced that the non-oil revenues of the KRG is 4.5 trillion IQD but now claim the region's non-oil revenues are, in fact, much lower. The Iraqi government is dealing with the Kurdistan Region on the basis of the figure it has announced itself prior."

"The amount of money deducted from the KRG's share this month has been taken instead of KRG's non-oil revenues, which the KRG has failed to hand over to Baghdad," he continued, referring to Baghdad only sending 598 billion IQD this month instead of the KRG's full share, which the KRG claims to be upwards of 900 billion IQD.

"The KRG is obliged to deliver 400,000 barrels of oil per day to the Iraqi government and must also hand over 50% of its domestic revenue to the Iraqi government. The KRG has failed to do either, and this has caused issues in budget transfers to Kurdistan," Kamal Agha explained his reasoning.

PUK media also quoted Shirwan Mirza, PUK member and ex-member of the Iraqi parliament, who added, "From the 907 billion dinars that should have been sent to the Kurdistan Region, after deducting KRG's internal revenues, the Iraqi government has sent 598 billion dinars. Therefore, if there is a problem, it is the fault of the Kurdistan Regional Government as it has previously reported false internal revenue figures."

KDP and PUK have been at loggerheads over internal revenues for years, with the KDP often accusing the PUK of failing to return non-oil revenues from regions under its control (Green Zone) to the KRG's treasury while the latter has accused the KDP of putting the Green under "punitive sanctions." Both internal revenues from zones under PUK and KDP control are recognized as "KRG's internal revenues" by Baghdad.

These accusations by the PUK should be understood in this context, telling the KDP, "you inflated KRG non-oil revenue figures to score political points and demand more money from the Green zone, and this is now coming back to bite you in Baghdad. Admit your prior accusations against PUK stealing the Green Zone's non-oil revenues were wrong."

Yesterday, a high-level meeting to discuss the drafting of the long-awaited federal oil and gas law took place in Baghdad.

The meeting was led by the federal Ministry of Oil and included participation from a Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) delegation and governors of oil-producing provinces.

Iraqi Minister of Oil Hayyan Abdul Ghani, Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, and KRG President of the Diwan of Council of Ministers Umed Sabah Othman were all present.

A statement by the Oil Ministry after the meeting said "the atmosphere of the meeting was positive, reflecting the interest and keenness of all parties to complete the project as it represents a commitment to the ministerial program that was voted on by the House of Representatives."

It added, "The oil and gas law represents the backbone of the government's energy policy and enables investing the nation's oil and gas wealth according to the best international practices and in a manner that secures the interest of all the Iraqi people."

According to the statement, two points were agreed to:

1. the creation of committees to follow up and organize subsequent meetings.
2. A working paper, based on the vision set forth by the Ministry, the KRG, and the oil-producing provinces during negotiations, will be presented through committees to be studied further.