Iraq’s Top Security Official in Tehran for Key Talks

Date: 01 October 2023 - 22:29

News ID: ۱۱۹۸۶۷

TEHRAN – Iran said Sunday a security agreement with Iraq to tackle the anti-Iran terror groups in northern Iraq, should be implemented to the letter.
Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Aliakbar Ahmadian said in a meeting with the visiting Iraqi national security advisor that the security deal between Tehran and Baghdad guarantees security along both countries’ borders and serves as a logical and proper road map for the elimination of elements which create insecurity in the two countries and in the entire region.
In the meeting, the Iranian side also expressed his gratitude to the Iraqi government for its cooperation and measures to hold Arba’een ceremonies as gloriously as possible and also thanked Iraqi people for their hospitality.
He said Arba’een rituals not only have important political and cultural dimensions, but are associated with spiritual blessings which have brought the Iranian and Iraqi people closer together.
Iran has repeatedly targeted the positions of the terrorists in the Iraqi Kurdistan region. Tehran says the groups are responsible for many acts of terror inside Iran.
A security delegation from Iraq headed by the national security advisor arrived here Sunday to discuss the terms of a security agreement that entails the complete disarmament and re-location of anti-Iran terrorist groups operating in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.
Qasim al-Araji traveled to Tehran at the head of a security delegation under the direction of Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shia’ al-Sudani, the official Iraqi News Agency reported.
According to the report, the Iraqi delegation would meet with Iranian authorities to complete the implementation of the recent security agreement.
Anti-Iran terrorists occasionally attempt to use the Kurdistan region to target Iranian soil or to smuggle weapons into the country and target Iran’s security.
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has now and then targeted terrorists’ lairs in the Kurdistan region.
Iran has repeatedly urged Baghdad and Erbil to meet their commitments toward Iran and take necessary measures to make the common border between the countries secure.
Last month, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said his country is committed to a security pact with Iran to disarm anti-Iran terrorist groups based in the Kurdistan region.
He made the remarks at a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart Hussein Amir-Abdollahian in Tehran on September 13.
Hussein said the terrorist groups will be transferred to camps supervised by the United Nations.
He made clear that the Iraqi constitution does not allow any group to use Iraqi territory to attack other countries, saying the security agreement between the two neighboring countries is also based on the Arab country’s constitution.
He also said the Baghdad government and the Kurdistan region are cooperating with each other in this regard and both stress the necessity of implementing the security agreement.
Amir-Abdollahian, for his part, underscored that the Islamic Republic of Iran is serious when it comes to providing the country’s national security.
“Efforts are underway to disarm them and fully implement the clauses of the security agreement between the two countries,” he added.
Two days before the two foreign ministers visited, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani also said the ultimatum given to Iraq to disarm anti-Iran separatist groups based in the Kurdistan region would not be extended.