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Iran reminds Iraq of deadline to disarm separatist groups

By Al Mayadeen English
10 Sep 2023 17:54

Iran's IRGC reminds Iraq of the September 19 deadline to disarm the Iranian separatist groups, vowing to launch a campaign to fight off the terrorists if Iraq does not fulfill its promises.

A Kurdish separatist fighter walks as smoke billows in the area of Zargwez, Iraq, where several separatist parties maintain bases, on September 28, 2022. (AFP)

Deputy Chief of Operations in the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), General Abbas Nilforoushan, emphasized, once again, that the deadline set for Iraq to disarm terrorist Iranian separatist groups in Northeastern Iraq will expire on September 19.

"We expect the Kurdistan Region of Iraq to show brotherhood. Allowing terrorists to stay in the region, which has become a [launching point] for operations against Iran, does not align with the principles of brotherhood and good neighborliness," the Iranian Tasnim news agency quoted Nilforoushan as saying.

The IRGC official explained that "after continuous negotiations," Iran had reached an agreement with the Iraqi government and the heads of the Iraqi Kurdistan region to disarm terrorists -- a process which must be completed before September 19.

He then stressed that if the deadline is not met, Iran will launch a campaign to fight off the terrorists and defend the interests of the Iranian people as it has previously done.

In late August, the spokesperson for the Iraqi government, Basim al-Awadi, said that making sure that Iraq's neighbors are safe is a core principle of Baghdad's foreign policy, adding that this requires security agreements with other nations to be achieved.

The Iraqi official's remarks coincided with a statement of the spokesperson of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Kanaani, who said, "Iran and Iraq have reached an agreement under which Iraq commits to disarm separatists present in its territory," as well as dismantling their bases and relocating them to areas away from the Iraq-Iran border.

In 2022, Iran submitted over 70 documents to Iraq documenting the presence of armed terrorist groups in the Iraqi Kurdistan region after the IRGC launched a round of missile and drone attacks on "centers of conspiracy and anti-Iran establishments in the region."

At the time, Iran sent a message to the United Nations Security Council explaining the reasons behind its strikes on the terrorist groups, emphasizing that it had exhausted all other options.

Additionally, the Iraqi government agreed to a plan to redeploy its forces along its borders with Iran and Turkey as part of a broader plan to counter attacks launched by Turkey and Iran against different groups that they view as terrorists.