Iran is emerging stronger from war, Iraqi Kurdish leader says

The US needs to stop treating Iran as if it is governed by "mad mullahs" and engage in dialogue with the Islamic Republic, which is emerging "stronger but different" from the US-Israeli war, a senior Iraqi Kurdish official said on Thursday.

"Iranians are often misunderstood in the West. This notion of mad mullahs is far from the truth," Bafel Talabani said at a Strategic Forum in the Iraqi Kurdistan city of Sulaymaniyah.

"We don't find it difficult talking to the Iranians," he said. "As an ally of Mr Trump and, strangely, an ally of the Iranians [I say] the mighty US can do it," he added.