Within Iraq, the autonomous Kurdistan regional government has come to the forefront with its organized, disciplined, and well-provisioned military force (called peshmerga) as a possible bulwark against ISIS. Whether the peshmerga will seek only to secure Kurdistan or push further south in Iraq remains to be seen.
ISIS’s advances have given Iran a legitimate reason to become militarily active in the region by supplying hardware to Iraq. Iran has additionally made it clear to the Iraqi government that it is willing to do more toaid its neighbor in this conflict.