Iraq Commits to Disarm Groups in Kurdistan Deemed Terrorist by Iran

28 August 2023

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani has announced that Iraqi authorities have committed to disarming factions situated in Iraqi Kurdistan that Iran designates as terrorist organizations.

 

"The Iraqi government has committed to disarm terrorist groups within the country, including those in the Kurdistan region, by the end of September this year," he stated during a press conference in Tehran. These remarks were reported by Iran's Fars news agency. The foreign ministry spokesperson also noted that Iraqi authorities will relocate these groups to designated camps.

 

In 2022, the elite units of the Iranian Armed Forces, specifically the forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, conducted multiple attacks on camps and headquarters of the Kurdish United Front in the Iraqi province of Sulaymaniyah. These actions were carried out as Tehran regards this group as a terrorist entity. Additionally, rocket attacks were directed at the facilities of another banned organization within the Islamic Republic, the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, located in Erbil.

 

These operations occurred towards the end of 2022 amid anti-government protests that swept through Kurdish-populated regions in Iran. Demonstrations and clashes between law enforcement forces and protestors took place in Sanandaj, the administrative center of Kurdistan province, resulting in the arrest of over 570 individuals. Iranian authorities attributed the disturbances and riots to the involvement of separatist Kurdish organizations based in Iraq.

 

 

GSV "Russia - Islamic world"

Photo: Dominique A. Pineiro/Creative Commons 2.0

Based on materials from TASS