Iranian general says concerns remain over Kurdish groups on border

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Tehran still has concerns about Kurdish opposition groups along its border, Iran’s armed forces chief of staff General Mohammad Bagheri told Iraq’s Interior Minister Abdul-Amir al-Shammari in a meeting in Baghdad on Sunday, months after completion of a security pact between them.

Bagheri thanked the Iraqi government for “removing the counter-revolutionary groups” from the border, but said there are still “evidence and concerns” about the presence of groups in the area, Iran’s state media (IRNA) reported.

According to IRNA, Bagheri suggested conducting joint activities with their border guard forces as one of the ways to improve security.

Several Kurdish groups opposed to the regime of the Islamic Republic are based in the Kurdistan Region. In March, Iran and Iraq signed a border protection deal in which Baghdad agreed to a September 19 deadline to disarm the Kurdish groups and secure the border region. The Iranian military in July threatened to use force if Baghdad failed to meet the deadline.

On September 19, Iraq announced that it had complied with the terms of the pact.

In the meeting on Sunday, Shammari said Iraq wanted to continue its cooperation with Iran.

“The Minister stressed the importance of working in the Joint Coordination Center to enhance the security of the two countries, especially in securing the Iraqi-Iranian border and combating drugs and psychotropic substances,” read a statement from the ministry. 

The Iraq-Iran-Turkey triangle border has seen frequent conflict since the 1980s. Tehran and Ankara have both fought Kurdish groups in the mountains there. Some 500 villages have been emptied, farmlands and orchards destroyed, and civilians caught in the crossfire.

The Iran-Iraq border is also very porous with Kurds on both sides frequently crossing the frontier at unofficial points.

In late October, Iraq said it had completed installing a border security barrier stretching a distance of 200 kilometers with Iran, equipped with security cameras aimed at deterring smuggling and illegal crossings.

During his visit, Bagheri also met Iraqi Defense Minister Thabet al-Abbassi and the army's chief of staff General Abdul Amir Rashid Yarallah.