Iran not to extend deadline for action against KRG terrorists
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Iran's defense minister has reminded the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government that a September 19 deadline for action against anti-Iran militants will not be extended.
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The Iranian defense minister explained that Iran would take any last-minute assessment before making any decisions. (IRNA)
In an interview with Iran newspaper, Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Ashtiani revealed that the country would take appropriate action against terrorists in the Kurdistan region, as per an agreement with the Iraqi government.
The deadline previously agreed upon on September 19 would not be extended, the minister noted.
He also emphasized that Iran would carry out last-minute assessments before making a decision.
A source divulged to Tasnim that the terror cells have acquiesced to the Iraqi Kurdistan region’s call to disarm and leave the border area. The source explained that "the opposition parties (terrorist secessionist groups) have agreed on relocation to the camps that have been already set up in the provinces of Erbil and Sulaymaniyah," shutting down rumors that the parties had any intention of taking military action.
"Armed secessionist groups are there in northern Iraq that cause insecurity at our borders," Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri warned in July, cautioning that Iranian military strikes would take place if the government failed to meet the deadline.
Iraq begins clearing out terrorists on Iran border as per agreement
Iraq's Joint Operations Command is working on securing its border with Iran from terrorist groups, the spokesperson of the JOC told The New Arab on Saturday.
Iraq's Border Guard Forces issued a statement saying that a force from the Second Border Brigade and Special Border Forces supported by Peshmerga forces took control of several points on the Iraqi-Iranian border after clashing with terrorists within the boundaries of the Erbil Governate.
It also said that "the Border Forces leadership is determined to assert the Iraqi state's authority over the entire border with neighboring countries and to raise the Iraqi flag at its farthest points."
Days ago, sources informed on the matter told Al Mayadeen that a field committee will oversee the process of extracting separatist Iranian groups currently present in the Kurdistan region of Iraq near the borders of Iran.
The separatist militias will vacate several locations and headquarters in Kurdistan they have occupied over the past years, the sources continued.
Commenting on the event, a source from Tasnim confirmed that "following this phase, a comprehensive disarmament of these separatist groups will be undertaken."
