BREAKING NEWS: Iran Threaten Military Action Against Iraq Here's Why
Iran has long accused the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of harboring opposition groups it considers “terrorists” and allowing them to launch attacks on the Islamic Republic from the borderlands. These groups have been attacked by Iranian armed forces with ballistic missiles and drones. A border protection agreement between Iran and Iraq was signed in March of 2023.
As Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said on Monday, the Kurdish opposition groups' disarmament deadline of September 19 and their evacuation from their military camps will not be extended in any way. We have communicated our views to Iraqi officials and Kurdistan officials.
"The Iran-Iraq relationship is friendly and warm," he said, yet he regretted the presence of Kurdish opposition groups in the Kurdistan Region.
Iranian-Kurdish opposition groups based in the Kurdistan Region - the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), Komala, Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK), and the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK) - have been accused of fueling protests in Iran last September and inciting unrest. In an on-and-off war with the Islamic Republic, these groups struggle for greater rights for Iran's marginalized Kurdish population.
As part of his upcoming visit to Iraq, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian will likely visit the Kurdistan Region, according to Kanaani.
In July, a major general of Iran's armed forces, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, stated that if Baghdad fails to meet the September 19 deadline, “our operations against these groups will definitely reoccur more severely if the deadline passes and Baghdad fails to meet Tehran's demands."
According to the IRGC-affiliated Mehr news agency, Baghdad, Erbil, and Tehran have agreed to transfer Kurdish opposition groups and their families to camps in western Iraq after being disarmed.
Iranian intelligence renewed its threats against Baghdad and Erbil in March and warned that military attacks would continue unless the border areas were secured and Kurdish opposition groups disarmed.
In late November, Iran launched a barrage of ballistic missiles and suicide drone attacks against Kurdish dissident groups in the Kurdistan Region, causing the Iraqi government to deploy more troops along its borders with Iran days after the spate of attacks, hoping to prevent further violations of its sovereignty.
According to the Kurdish health ministry, at least 16 people were killed and 58 wounded in the Iranian bombardment two months prior.
Kurdish dissident groups have also been accused of smuggling drone parts into Iran from the Kurdistan Region in late January to carry out a strike on an Isfahan military facility on behalf of a foreign intelligence agency.
An Erbil businessman's residence was hit by twelve ballistic missiles launched by Iran last March. Kurdish authorities vehemently rejected the IRGC's claim that it targeted “the strategic center of the Zionist conspiracy and evil by point-to-point missile.” The IRGC claimed responsibility for the attack. No evidence of espionage activities was found in the area attacked by a fact-finding committee formed by the Iraqi parliament to investigate the claims.
On several occasions, the KRG, which has cordial relations with Tehran, has urged neighboring countries and armed Kurdish groups not to use the region's land for settling scores.
According to Iran's foreign ministry on Monday, so-called "armed terrorist groups" in Iraqi Kurdistan will be disarmed and relocated next month.
“An agreement has been reached between Iran and Iraq, in which Iraq has committed to disarming separatists and terrorist groups present in its territory, closing their bases, and moving them to another location by the 19th of September,” ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said at a weekly briefing.
There was no immediate comment from Iraq on where militants would be relocated. The spokesperson did not specify where militants would be relocated.
In recent years, the Revolutionary Guards have repeatedly targeted the bases of "terrorist groups" in Iraq's autonomous northern Kurdish region.
According to local authorities, Iran's Revolutionary Guards fired missiles and drones at targets in Iraq's Kurdish region last September, killing 13 people.
Iran's elite military and security forces have said they will continue targeting what they call terrorists in the region, according to Iraq's foreign ministry.
To avert military action by Iran, Iraq has agreed to disarm members of the Iranian Kurdish dissident groups based in Northern Iraq and relocate their members from their current bases.
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Iraq - United States Department of State
