The British brothers who stopped Kurds being dragged into Trump’s war
The bombs were falling at a rapid clip across the Middle East when Bafel Talabani’s phone rang. The gruff, British-Iraqi who was raised in Croydon, picked up to find US president Donald Trump on the other end, just two days into his war on Iran. When news of the conversation began trickling out, it triggered a frenzy over what was said. Speculation was rife that Mr Trump was fomenting a US-backed ground invasion launched from Iraq into Iran and Mr Talabani, a senior politician in northern Iraq, was in on the plan. The truth turned out to be quite different. Bafel Talabani was raised in Croydon, south-east London – Instagram It emerged that Mr Trump did not request Iraqi authorities to support a ground invasion led by armed Iranian groups, according to a senior government official. But the speculation put Bafel and his brother Qubad Talabani, a top official in Iraq – both of whom grew up in the UK as refugees – at the centre of feverish rumours of a coming ground assault across …
