The Iranian military is threatening to use force if Iraq fails to meet a September 22 deadline to secure its border and disarm Kurdish opposition groups based in the Kurdistan Region.
“We will wait until September, when the Iraqi government made a commitment, and we hope that the Iraqi government will fulfil its responsibility,” Iran’s armed forces chief Maj Gen Mohammad Bagheri said. “But if this deadline passes and they remain armed or carry out operations, our operations against these groups will definitely intensify.”
Iran has long accused the Kurdistan Regional Government of sheltering armed opposition groups it considers terrorists and allowing them to use the Iraqi border areas as a launch pad for attacks against Iran.
Iraq and Iran signed an agreement in March to improve security co-operation between the two neighbouring countries, focusing mainly on protecting the borders.
The headquarters of Turkey’s Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, and the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran, KDPI, are in Iraq's Kurdistan region.
They have recently been the targets of almost daily cross-border attacks by both Turkey and Iran.
Under pressure from Turkey and Iran, Iraq sent Border Guard units to its borders with the two countries late last year in an effort to stop attacks by dissident Kurdish groups.
Last week, Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi met with his Iraqi counterpart Abdul Amir Al Shammari at the Mehran border crossing where they signed an agreement to establish joint border security points.
“The purpose of the visit is to increase co-ordination and co-operation regarding the control of international borders, as well as to discuss preparations to receive the visitors of the Arbaeen pilgrimage of Imam Hussein through the land border crossings,” Mr Al Shammari said.
