Baghdad, 20 March 2023 (GNP): A border security deal between Iraq and Iran was recently inked which according to Iraqi authorities is largely focused on securing the border with the Kurdish area of Iraq, where Tehran claims Kurdish armed organizations constitute a security concern.
Some Iranian Kurdish militias have camps and military bases in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, which Iran has previously accused of advancing US or Zionist goals.
Iran has frequently voiced concern about the suspected presence of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad in the autonomous Kurdish area of Iraq and has also accused Kurdish forces of assisting its longtime rival Israel.
Iran conducted cross-border missile and drone attacks against a number of organizations in northern Iraq in November, charging them of inciting the massive protests sparked by the death of Iranian Kurdish lady Mahsa Amini in detention last September.
After the Iranian strikes, Iraq declared in November that it would reassign federal troops to the border between Iran and Iraqi Kurdistan, taking the duty off the shoulders of the Kurdish Peshmerga troops, a decision that Tehran applauded.
Also Read: India desires good relations with Pakistan; Indian Envoy
According to the Iraqi prime minister’s office, the deal was signed by Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and Qasim al-Araji, national security adviser of Iraq, In the presence of Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani.
According to a statement from the office of the Iraqi prime minister, coordination in “protecting the common borders between the two countries and consolidating cooperation in several security fields” are part of the joint security agreement signed on Sunday.
“Under the signed security deal, Iraq pledges it would not allow armed groups to use its territory in the Iraqi Kurdish region to launch any border-crossing attacks on neighbor Iran,” said a security official from Iraq who was present at the signing.
Speaking in Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian stated that Shamkhani’s current visit to Iraq had been planned for four months and was centered on matters relating to the armed factions in northern Iraq.
“Iran will in no way accept threats from Iraqi territories”, he said.
