Iran doubts disarmament of Iranian opposition in Iraq: We will wait several days before taking any action
Shafaq News / Iran's Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, General Mohammad Bagheri, has urged the absence of armed forces hostile to Iran in the Kurdistan region (KRI) and across Iraq, in accordance with the vision of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. He emphasized that the directives issued by President Raisi include waiting and sending monitoring teams to ensure the disarmament of armed groups.
During a televised interview on the sidelines of the Iranian Armed Forces' military parade, General Bagheri stated, "The decision was to completely disarm these groups by September 19th, but what happened during the six-month period is that they moved a little away from our country's borders."
General Bagheri praised the efforts of the Iraqi government in disarming terrorist groups in KRI and emphasized that what is outlined in the agreement between the National Security Advisers of both countries should be fully implemented.
He further explained, "The President of the Republic stated that separatist terrorist forces should not be present in KRI and in Iraq as a whole. These terrorists must be completely disarmed and expelled from Iraq."
General Bagheri also revealed that President Raisi has instructed the armed forces to wait for a few more days, after which monitoring teams will be sent to the region to verify whether disarmament has been completed or not. Decisions will be made accordingly.
It is noteworthy that on September 20, 2023, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian announced the transfer of Iranian Kurdish opposition groups and parties from the border areas of Iran to five camps within KRI.
The Joint High Security Agreement Implementation Committee with Iran had confirmed on September 19th that the headquarters of Kurdish opposition groups in Tehran, which oppose the Iranian government, had been vacated in KRI, in preparation for marking them as refugees.
UN Secretary-General's Representative Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert attended the meeting held in Erbil and Baghdad and expressed full support for the Iraqi government in implementing the agreement, with the condition that these groups maintain civilian status.
Iran's Ambassador to Baghdad, Mohammad Kadhim Al-Sadiq, announced that a joint team from Iran and Iraq would visit KRI to assess the implementation of the security agreement in disarming Kurdish groups and parties opposing the Iranian government in Tehran.
It should be noted that on September 19th of this year, the deadline specified in the security agreement between Iraq and Iran, which calls for the disarmament of Kurdish groups and parties opposing the Iranian government in Tehran, expired. Iranian officials had previously threatened to target these groups, as Iran has done in the past.
