Iraqi FM announces disarmament of groups on Iraqi-Iranian border
The Iraqi Foreign Minister, Fuad Hussein, and the Iranian Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, during a joint press conference in Tehran. Photo: INA
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Iraqi Foreign Minister, Fuad Hussein, announced on Wednesday the disarmament of the groups located on the Iraqi-Iranian border.
During a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart in Tehran, Hussein called on all countries to adopt international resolutions preventing the desecration of holy books.
“The Iraqi constitution does not allow any group to use Iraqi lands to attack another country,” Hussein stated.
“We are reaching the final goal of the plan agreed upon by the two countries. The groups on the Iraqi-Iranian border have been disarmed, and refugee camps, supervised by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), have been set up,” the Iraqi Foreign Minister said.
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.
In a joint press conference on Tuesday with the Austrian Foreign Minister, Alexander Schallenberg, Hussein stated 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 recent months, senior Iranian officials have called on Iraq to implement its obligations regarding the Iranian opposition groups.
Although several meetings have been held between officials from Iraqi Kurdistan and Iran, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has not commented on these measures.
In late August, the spokesperson of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Nasser Kanaani, said the date set to disarm and move opposition groups from the Iraqi-Iranian border would not be extended.