Baghdad moves Iranian opposition militants far from Iraq-Iran border

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Iraqi National Security Advisor, Qasim Al-Araji, confirmed that Baghdad moved all Iranian opposition militants from their positions to areas far from the border.

Al-Araji explained that the Iraqi border guard forces and the Peshmerga forces took control of the positions of Iranian opposition militants, according to a statement released by the National Security Advisor’s Office.

Al-Araji stated that these militants will be stationed in special camps far from the border at a later stage.

Last March, the former Secretary of the Iranian National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, and his Iraqi counterpart, Qassim Al-Araji, signed a joint security agreement after negotiations that began in the wake of multiple missile and drone attacks against sites in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

Last year, Iran bombarded more than once the sites of Iranian Kurdish opposition groups, whom Tehran accuses of participating in the protests that shook Iran following the death of Mahsa Amini in September 2022, after she was arrested by the Iranian morality police.

The two countries concluded a security agreement last March, but Tehran demands that Iraq disarm Iranian Kurdish opposition groups by September 19 and evacuate them to camps.

The Iraqi Foreign Minister, Fuad Hussein, stated earlier that these groups have been in the Kurdistan region of Iraq for four or five decades.

Hussein also elaborated that these groups have been moved from the border areas with Iran to remote camps in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

In late August, the spokesperson of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Nasser Kanaani, said the date set to disarm and move opposition groups from the Iraq-Iran border would not be extended.