Top commander warns Iraq over anti-Iran groups
Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri cautioned the Iraqi government that its failure to meet a deadline of September for action against hostile armed groups in its northern regions will result in a fresh round of Iranian military strikes against them.
Addressing an annual conference of the commanders of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in the northeastern city of Mashhad on Tuesday, Baqeri bemoaned the fact that a number of neighboring states have failed to honor their commitments to border security, Tasnim news agency reported.
“Armed secessionist groups exist in northern Iraq which cause insecurity at our borders,” the top commander said.
Lauding the IRGC’s Ground Force for “effective missile and drone attacks” against the terrorist groups in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, with the purpose of protecting Iran’s security, Major General Baqeri said the strikes have been suspended after the Baghdad government undertook to disarm those groups and stop their activities.
The general then noted that Iran will wait until September and hopes that the government of Iraq would honor its commitments, adding, “If the deadline passes and they [terrorists] remain armed or carry out any operation, our operations against those groups will definitely recur more severely.”
Iran launched several rounds of military strikes on the positions of separatist groups in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region in 2022.