Kurdish leader vows Iraqi soil will not be used against Iran
Iraqi Kurdish leader Bafel Talabani said on Tuesday that Iraq and the Kurdistan Region would not allow their territory to be used to threaten Iran’s security, as Tehran and Baghdad step up efforts to implement a bilateral security agreement and disarm armed groups opposed to Iran.
Talabani, head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), made the remarks during a meeting in Tehran with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, where he led a delegation of senior PUK officials, IRNA reported.
“Iraq and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq will never allow the territory of this country to become a haven for harming and threatening the security of regional countries, especially the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Talabani said.
He stressed the need for cooperation between Iran and Iraq to implement their security agreement and disarm armed groups opposed to Iran.
Araghchi, referring to the activities of terrorist groups along the two countries’ borders, also called for greater security cooperation to protect the frontier.
The top diplomat said Tehran was ready to build up economic and trade ties with the Kurdistan Region, particularly the city of Sulaimaniyah, while strengthening security cooperation and efforts to combat terrorism.
Araghchi also warned of attempts to create divisions among neighboring countries.
“Our Kurdish friends and all countries in the region should be vigilant against false-flag tricks designed to create divisions among neighbors,” he said.
Talabani described relations between Iran, Iraq and the Kurdistan Region as historic and friendly, saying the PUK wanted to strengthen cooperation with Iran in political, security, economic and trade fields.
He called Iran “the strongest and ever-present supporter of the Iraqi people”.
The issue of armed groups based in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region has taken on added importance during the war the US and Israel waged against Iran in late February.
Iranian forces have repeatedly pounded US bases in the Kurdistan Region, as well as bases of Iranian Kurdish separatist groups and their weapons depots, with missiles and drones.
US President Donald Trump has acknowledged sending arms to Kurdish separatist forces in the region to prepare for a ground invasion on Iran from its western border after the outbreak of the war. The planned attack never took place.