ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Council of Ministers on Wednesday instructed the KRG negotiating delegation to Baghdad to expedite the finding of solutions with the Iraqi government to oil export resumption and revenue sharing issues.

The Council convened earlier on Wednesday for a regular meeting, which saw the cabinet task the negotiating delegation with “continuing efforts [to] quickly reach an appropriate solution to resume exporting the Kurdistan Region’s oil through [Iraq’s State Organization for Marketing of Oil] SOMO as soon as possible,” especially in light of a recent agreement being signed between the Iraqi oil ministry, the KRG’s Ministry of Natural Resources, and the North Oil Company.

The cabinet went on to stress that the issue of non-oil revenue sharing between Baghdad and Erbil and the Federal Treasury’s share thereof be addressed in accordance with the Iraqi Budget Law and Federal Financial Management Law, as previously outlined by the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court.

The meeting comes amid intensified dialogue between the Kurdistan Region’s negotiating delegation and Iraqi authorities. A delegation from the Region left Erbil for Baghdad on Tuesday to discuss the resumption of oil exports, while another team, set to travel to the Iraqi capital on Thursday, will focus on non-oil revenues and the mechanisms for sharing domestic income with the Iraqi government.

The KRG and the federal government have long had issues over oil exports and the handover of domestic non-oil revenues. The latest disagreements in the decade-long conflict have seen the Iraqi government suspending the Kurdistan Region’s share of the budget, with Iraqi Finance Minister Taif Sami claiming in May that the Region has exhausted its share of the 2025 budget.

Economic sanctions and pressure on Erbil by federal authorities have pushed employees in the Region to live from paycheck to paycheck. The Region’s employees received their payments for June in early September and have received only two salaries since the breakout of the conflict in early May.

The cabinet meeting also addressed a recent altercation in Sulaimani, whereby forces affiliated with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) raided and besieged the residence of People’s Front leader and former PUK co-chair Lahur Sheikh Jangi, leading to Jangi’s arrest after a violent conflict that spanned hours and saw dozens killed and multiple more injured.

Prime Minister Masrour Barzani expressed his "deep concern" with the developments in Sulaimani in late August, extended his condolences to the families of the victims, and wished a speedy recovery to all those who were injured in the clash.

Deputy Prime Minister and Senior PUK member Qubad Talabani then provided a detailed briefing of the events that took place, saying that "there were attempts to create large-scale disorder and chaos, and there were plans to assassinate PUK leader [Bafel Talabani] on four different occasions."

The Lalezar battle killed more than a dozen on Jangi’s side and saw the arrest of multiple others, with at least three PUK-affiliated fighters also dying in the immediate aftermath of the operation with 19 more wounded, before ultimately leading to the arrest of the People’s Front leader and his brother Polat Sheikh Jangi.

The PUK-linked Kurdistan Region Security Agency (Asayish) later in August published a seven-page document implicating People’s Front leader Lahur Sheikh Jangi in an assassination attempt against PUK leader Bafel Talabani.