Iraq, Iran Sign MoU on Narcotics Control

Shafaq News/ Iraq's Ministry of Health on Thursday said it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Iran's Anti-Narcotics Department in a bid to concert drug control efforts between the two nations.

The MoU was signed by Minister Saleh al-Hasnawi, who also serves as the head of Iraq's Supreme Authority for Combating Drugs, and Iskandar Momeni, the Secretary-General of Iran's Anti-Narcotics Committee, at the headquarters of the Iraqi Ministry of Health.

According to a statement released by the ministry, al-Hasnawi said the signing of this MoU falls within the purview of collaborative efforts between Iraq and Iran aiming at developing a unified approach to address the pressing issue of drug trafficking.

The ministry reiterated the ministry's commitment to executing the priorities set forth in the government's healthcare agenda.

It is not unusual for a single drug bust to reportedly rake in over 1,000 kilograms of drugs in Iraq's eastern neighbor, with which Iraq shares a lengthy porous border through which millions of people transit every year for religious ceremonies alone. On the other side, Iran's border has been a massive influx of Afghans flowing in after the country fell to the Taliban in August 2021.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Iran accounted for over 91% of opium seizures in 2020 and remains one of the major transit countries for drug trafficking from Afghanistan to Europe and other areas.

India also recently seized a larger quantity than that captured by the Iraqi authorities in the first eight months of 2022, some 312.5 kilograms of methamphetamine, in a single drug bust against two Afghan nationals in the country. Concerns have risen after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan about a possible rise in the regional drug trade, which will likely affect Iraq as well.

Several Iraqi security officers reported that the country is awash in drugs but that little is being done about it — or that can even be done so long as non-state armed groups continue to be allowed to operate relatively unhindered throughout the country.

In one month alone earlier this year, at least 1,300 people were reportedly arrested on suspicion of being involved in the drug trade. However, many Iraqis feel that those controlling the trade — and guns — remain relatively untouched and possibly untouchable.

Last year, Iraq's Interior Ministry stated that cannabis and methamphetamines smuggled from Iran were among the most widely consumed narcotics in Iraq.

Meanwhile, judges and police are killed for trying to stop the trade, many in the same province as the latest high-profile cases.

Last year, an Iraqi judge specialized in drug cases was shot and killed in Maysan province, while another anti-drug judge had narrowly escaped an attempt on his life a few months prior in the same province.

Meanwhile, though the rash of violence that broke out in late August in the central, most heavily secured area of the Iraqi capital for almost 24 hours was subdued after a powerful cleric called on his followers to desist and leave the Green Zone, the confidence of much of the population has been shaken in the security forces' ability to protect them from non-state armed groups operating in the country.

A seeming lack of urgency and ability to effect needed change by the political class also seems to be wearing on the country's morale, while the violent outcome of these latest protests — with militias seemingly empowered and dozens dead — may discourage further demonstrations for the moment.

Hundreds of others were injured, many seriously so, after RPGs, missiles and gunfire resounded throughout a night that rekindled fears and traumas from the past decades.

A number of underreported incidents of the burning of militia and official security headquarters in southern Iraq followed the late August outbreak of violence in the capital.

As the violence and tension continue, attempts to curb the drug trade are likely to take a back seat to bringing in a government acquiesced to by the country’s major powerbrokers, if not the population itself.

Concerns at the same time remain that many of those involved in armed power plays and cross-border movement of weapons may meanwhile be further empowered by the lucrative trade in narcotics.