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 Iraqi security forces fought Sunni armed factions for control of
the country's biggest oil refinery 200 km (120 miles) north of
Baghdad, under threat for nearly two weeks since militants overran
northern cities.
Kerry flew to the Kurdish region after a day in Baghdad on an
emergency trip through the Middle East to rescue Iraq after a
lightning advance by Sunni fighters led by an al Qaeda offshoot, the
Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. U.S. officials believe that
persuading the Kurds to stick with the political process in Baghdad
is vital to keeping Iraq from splitting apart.
"If they decide to withdraw from the Baghdad political process it
will accelerate a lot of the negative trends," said a senior State
Department official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.
Kurdish leaders have made clear that the settlement keeping Iraq
together as a state is now in jeopardy.
 "We are facing a new reality and a new Iraq," Kurdish President
Massoud Barzani said at the start of his meeting with Kerry.
Earlier, he blamed Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's "wrong policies"
for the violence and called for him to quit, saying it was "very
difficult" to imagine Iraq staying together.
The 4 million Kurds, who have ruled themselves within Iraq in
relative peace since the U.S. invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein
in 2003, have seized on this month's chaos to expand their own
territory, taking control of rich oil deposits.
Two days after the Sunni fighters launched their uprising by seizing
the north's biggest city Mosul, Kurdish troops took full control of
Kirkuk, a city they consider their historic capital and which was
abandoned by the fleeing Iraqi army.
The Kurds' capture of Kirkuk, just outside the boundary of their
autonomous zone, eliminates their main incentive to remain part of
Iraq: its oil deposits could generate more revenue than the Kurds
now receive from Baghdad as part of the settlement that has kept
them from declaring independence.
Some senior Kurdish officials suggest in private they are no longer
committed to Iraq and are biding their time for an opportunity to
seek independence. In an interview with CNN, Barzani repeated a
threat to hold a referendum on independence, saying it was time for
Kurds to decide their own fate.
NEW GOVERNMENT
Washington has placed its hopes in forming a new, more inclusive
government in Baghdad that would undermine the insurgency. Kerry
aims to convince Kurdish leaders to sign on.
In Baghdad on Monday Kerry said Maliki assured him the new
parliament, elected two months ago, would sit by a July 1 deadline
to start forming a new government. Maliki is fighting to stay in
power, under criticism for the ISIL-led advance. Baghdad is racing
against time as the insurgents consolidate their grip on Sunni
provinces. The past three days saw Baghdad's forces abandon the
entire western frontier with Jordan and Syria, leaving Sunni
fighters in control of some of the most important trade routes in
the Middle East.
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For the insurgents, capturing the frontier is a dramatic step
towards the goal of erasing the modern border altogether and
building a caliphate across swathes of Iraq and Syria. An Iraqi
government official said troops had recaptured two border crossings
but Sunni fighters said they still held them.
U.S. President Barack Obama has offered up to 300 American advisers
to Iraq but held off granting a request by Maliki's Shi'ite
Muslim-led government for air strikes.
The insurgency has been fuelled by a sense of persecution among many
of Iraq's Sunnis, including armed tribes who once fought al Qaeda
but are now battling alongside the ISIL-led revolt against Maliki's
Shi'ite-led government.
Maliki's State of Law coalition won the most seats in the election
in April but still needs support from rival Shi'ite factions as well
as Kurds and Sunnis to keep him in power.
Some State of Law figures have suggested they could replace Maliki
to build a government around a less polarising figure, although
Maliki's allies say he has no plan to step aside.
His main foreign sponsors, Washington and Tehran, have both called
for a swift agreement on an inclusive government, suggesting they
may be ready to abandon the combative 64-year-old Shi'ite Islamist
after eight years in power.
Maliki has put himself at odds with the Kurds, who accuse him of
reneging on promises made in exchange for their backing to stay in
power after the last election in 2010. Relations are now
characterised by deep mistrust, but the State Department official
said Washington hopes the Kurds can be wooed back.
"If we are to have a chance ... to use this process of forming a new
government to reset the political foundation here, the Kurds have to
be a critical part of that process, and we think they will be," the
senior State Department official said.
Over the past year, the Kurds have signed oil deals with Turkey and
late last year completed their own export pipeline, despite
opposition from both Baghdad and Washington.
(Writing by Isabel Coles; Editing by Peter Graff)
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