ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s national security advisor said on Wednesday that the newly-signed deal with Iran updated the 2023 bilateral security pact and converted it into a memorandum of understanding (MoU), with the agreement opposed by the US.
“What we signed in 2023 was a security protocol. This year, we turned that protocol into a memorandum of understanding, nothing more,” Qasim al-Araji told Rudaw.
He defended Iraq’s right to sign MoUs and security agreements with regional and international countries, after Washington voiced opposition to the deal.
“It is Iraq’s natural right to sign memorandums of understanding and security agreements with neighboring, regional, and international countries,” Araji said.
Araji and Iran’s Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani signed a joint security MoU in Baghdad on Monday, overseen by Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani. The agreement concerns “security coordination along the shared border between the two countries.”
In response to Rudaw’s question about the deal, US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce on Tuesday said that Washington “opposes any legislation that is inconsistent with the goals of our bilateral security assistance and partnership and runs counter to strengthening Iraq’s existing security institutions.”
“We support genuine Iraqi sovereignty, not legislation that would turn Iraq into an Iranian satellite state,” Bruce asserted.
Her remarks drew condemnation from both Baghdad and Tehran. Iraq’s embassy in Washington issued a statement and stressed the country’s “inherent rights” to make deals with foreign countries.
“Iraq is not subordinate to the policy of any other state, and that its decisions are guided solely by its independent national will,” the embassy stated, explaining that the new deal “falls within the framework of bilateral cooperation aimed at safeguarding security and managing the shared border.”
Iran’s embassy in Baghdad also blasted Washington’s “interfering position” in Iraqi and Iranian bilateral affairs.
In March 2023, Iran and Iraq signed a security pact under which Baghdad committed to disarming Kurdish opposition groups and tightening security along the shared border. Iran had threatened to use military action if Baghdad failed to fulfill the agreement.
Tehran has accused Iranian Kurdish opposition groups based in the Kurdistan Region of fueling Iran’s nationwide protest movement in 2022 and inciting unrest. The groups, struggling for greater rights for Iran’s marginalized Kurdish population, have fought an on-and-off war with the Islamic republic for decades.
Iran and Iraq have shared a strong relationship since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. Tehran has since increased its influence over Baghdad, and the country has dozens of armed groups that are affiliated to the Shiite rule in Tehran.
Malik Mohammed contributed to this report.
