Al-Monitor | Fazel Hawramy: Mlitary commanders and diplomats from both Iran and the United States are swarming Iraqi Kurdistan in a last-ditch attempt to convince the Kurds, an important ally in the war against the Islamic State (IS), to either postpone the planned�Sept. 25 referendum for independence�or cancel it all together.


Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the commander of Iran�s powerful Quds Force, and Brett McGurk, the US special anti-IS envoy accompanied by US Ambassador Douglas Silliman, were�shuttling this week�between Baghdad, Erbil and�Sulaimaniyah�to convince all sides to come to an agreement.

"Both the Iranians and the Americans were in agreement about the referendum and reiterated that it should not take place," a source briefed about the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan�s (PUK) separate meetings with American and Iranian officials on Sept. 11 told Al-Monitor.

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