Iran says Iraq needs to do more on bilateral security pact
Iran’s top general says Iraq has to do more to fully implement a security pact signed with Iran in March as he insists that anti-Iran groups operating in the Iraqi territory should be completely disarmed based on the terms of the agreement.
Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Baqeri said on Saturday that the Iraqi government has taken an “important step” to implement the security pact with Iran by relocating anti-Iran groups from areas near the joint border between the two countries.
However, Baqeri insisted that Iran expects a “full disarmament” of those groups and relocation by itself would not satisfy the terms of the agreement.
“What sense does it make to have separatist Iranian groups based in Iraq’s Kurdistan region to commit various terrorist acts in our country so that we are forced to keep many troops on the border,” said Baqeri in an address to a gathering of cadets and military officials at Iran’s Supreme National Defense University.
He said Iraqi officials have confirmed that the issue of terrorist groups opposed to Iran that are based in the Iraqi territory should be settled once and for all.
The comments came nearly three weeks after the deadline expired under the Iran-Iraq security pact for the expulsion of anti-Iran groups from areas near the Iranian border.
Iraqi officials said on September 19 that all elements from those groups had been relocated to areas deep inside the Iraqi territory to assuage Iran’s concerns.
To further comply with the terms of the agreement, Iraq's military has also beefed up its presence along the border with Iran.
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