Soft Threats of the Autonomy of Iraqi Kurdistan and Their Impacts on Iranian Kurds

The approval of the Constitution of Iraq in 2005 and formation of a federal government and consequently the establishment of the autonomous region ofKurdistanhave led a considerable impact on the adjacent countries. Due to the neighborhood of theKurdistanwith the Kurdish area of our country as well as their cultural and ethnic ties some preparations have been made for soft threat against the Islamic Republic of Iran. The signification of Kurdish culture and identity in line with pan Kurdism, and promotion of the level of political, cultural and economic demands despite the existing economic limitations in our country are among soft threats posed against the security ofIran. The main objectives of the present paper, based on descriptive-analytical method, are to study the commonalities between the Kurds of the two countries, find out the soft power of Kurds, and review the history of the struggles and longstanding claims of some Kurdish parties for realization of Great Kurdistan. The main focus of the present paper is to study the developments in Iraqi Kurdistan within the framework of soft threat against the Islamic Republic of Iran which is a new endeavor. Hence, the main question of the present paper is: what soft threats the recent developments in Iraqi Kurdistan pose against the security ofIran? The hypothesis of the present paper is: due to cultural, identity, and ethnic as well as the soft power of Kurdistan, the autonomy of the Iraqi Kurdistan, on the side of their activities to promote the Kurdish identity, poses soft threat toIran.