ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – US Special Envoy to Iraq Tom Barrack on Wednesday called for unity in the Kurdistan Region amid heightened tensions between its ruling parties, urging the two sides to “get over it.”

Barrack said “there is no way we can intervene” to foster unity in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Iraqi federal government, stressing that all parties must “get over” partisan disputes.

“In the Kurdistan Region today, what is America’s position? There’s only one position, its unity,” Barrack added, noting that Washington can only counsel and mediate but not directly intervene.

"I cannot go back to Congress and explain the complexity of the Iraqi constitution and the federalist delineation of the Kurdistan Region and how it dovetails with Baghdad, and then say besides that, we have a series of disputes of families within the Kurdistan Region," he continued.

The Kurdistan Region’s parliament reconvened on Wednesday after a two-year hiatus, continuing the proceedings of its first session in 2024 and electing the parliamentary presidency board.

Of the Region’s two largest parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) participated in the session, while the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) boycotted it. A day later, PUK leader Bafel Talabani announced that the party would withdraw from the KRG and revealed plans for a potential separate government.

“I'm sure you are exhausted,” Barrack said, warning that partisan disputes can go on for hundreds of years if not stopped, and expressing the need for an improvement in Erbil-Baghdad relations.

He futher asserted that internal political tensions have a negative effect on US investment in the region, noting that American and international companies have to deal with "what's happening now."

The US envoy, who has proved highly influential in shaping Washington's policy regarding the contemporary Middle East, also condmened a recent drone attack on the Kurdistan Region's strategic Khor Mor gas field as "terrible", stressing that "we need to find a way to respond to it."

The PUK is the KDP’s main rival, and the two parties have traditionally governed the Region together. They emerged as the two largest parties in the last parliamentary elections. The KDP won 39 seats, while the PUK secured 23. However, negotiations to form the next cabinet have repeatedly stalled, with both parties blaming each other for the impasse.

Also on Wednesday, the Kurdistan Region’s Council of Ministers called on the PUK’s ministerial team to return to meetings and continue their work within the KRG.

“Any comments, observations, and proposals they have should be discussed and resolved within the framework of the Council of Ministers’ meetings,” a KRG statement read.