Diplomacy
Tehran and Baghdad signed a border security agreement
The deal aims to secure the border between Iran and Iraq from Kurdish resistance groups to the Iranian government.
Published
Iraq’s National Security Adviser Qassem al-Araji (right) meets with Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Shamkhani (left) in Baghdad on March 19, 2023.
Iraqi Defense Media Center / AFP
Senior Iranian defense official Ali Shamkhani signed an agreement in Baghdad on Sunday to “protect the border” between Iran and Iraq, where anti-Iranian Kurdish groups targeted by Tehran are based, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Zia al-Sudani’s office said.
The agreement “includes coordination in the defense of common borders and coordination of cooperation in several security areas,” Iraqi services noted.
The visit comes ahead of the twentieth anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq. Today, ties between Baghdad and Tehran are closer than ever and Mr. Soudani’s government is backed by a pro-Iranian parliamentary coalition.
However, some Western capitals caution against Iran’s greater influence in neighboring Iraq, which has seen the US as its biggest enemy since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Iran’s official news agency IRNA reported on Sunday that Ali Shamkhani had attacked “anti-security and evil activities” by counter-revolutionary and terrorist forces in the region. [du Kurdistan irakien] and Northern Iraq”.
Fight against “evil deeds”.
He said the agreement signed on Sunday “can completely and fundamentally end the evil activities of these groups”. These anti-Iranian Kurdish units that took refuge in northern Iraq were bombed by Iran in late 2022, which Tehran accused of infiltrating its territory to carry out attacks and incite demonstrations. The Iraqi government redeployed its border guards to contain tensions.
At the time, Iran was rocked by a protest movement following the death on September 16 of a young Kurdish woman, Mahza Amini, 22, who was arrested by paramilitary forces for violating the women’s dress code. Iraq was one of the mediators in the discussions between Iran and Saudi Arabia, which cut diplomatic ties in 2016 and announced the resumption on March 10. Ali Shamkhani was the mastermind behind the Iranian side.
During his visit to Baghdad, he was accompanied by the governor of the central bank and the deputy minister responsible for economic affairs, IRNA reported. Trade is essential for both partners, especially in terms of energy. Iraq is highly dependent on its neighbors for gas and electricity.
(AFP)
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