“Border stability and security is a redline for Iran,” said Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, according to IRNA. “The Iranian security and military forces will oppose any movement against border security.”
Shamkhani met on Sunday with a senior security delegation from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) headed by Karim Sinjari, Minister of the Interior for the KRG.
Sinjari said of the meeting, “Iran is a friend and trusted state for Kurdistan. The KRG won’t let anyone carry out any actions against the Islamic Republic from our borders. We will gather enough security and military forces to face those groups who are against the shared security of the borders,” according to IRNA.
The purpose of the visit was to discuss recent Iranian shelling of alleged Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) positions in the Kurdistan Region.
“Our delegation will visit Iran and we condemn shelling of the borders and we will discuss this issue with them, because Iran was not supposed to do so,” Abdullah Akrayee, head of KRG-Iran relations at the Department of Foreign Relations (DFR), told Rudaw before leaving for Tehran.
Shamkhani asked that both sides secure their borders together, saying, “If there is stability then this will create opportunity to develop bilateral economic ties.”
He hailed relations between Iran and the Kurdistan Region and praised the role of KRG President Masoud Barzani in building and strengthening those ties.
The Kurdistan Region and Iran share 600 kilometres of border. Border issues are one of the main and ongoing issues between Erbil and Tehran. Iran often blames the KRG for not securing its own borders and allowing Kurdish opposition parties to infiltrate Iran from Kurdistan Region territory. Erbil has repeatedly asked Tehran to stop shelling villages on the border.
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