Iran bolsters border security to prevent 'Kurdish infiltration'

Baghdad, November 25

Iran has sent additional units of special forces to fortify its northern border with Iraq and clamp down on what it says is infiltration by Kurdish opposition groups, Iranian state media reported on Friday.

Gen Mohammad Pakpour, chief of ground forces of the paramilitary Iranian Revolutionary Guard, said “armoured and special forces” units had been deployed to west and north-west provinces to bolster existing border security, according to reports.

The deployment aims to prevent infiltration and the smuggling of weapons in the north by Kurdish opposition groups exiled in Iraq that Tehran claims is orchestrating country-wide anti-government protests. It is a claim the Kurdish groups deny and to date Iran has not provided any evidence to support it.

Iran has several military bases near the Iraqi border and forces have been present there on a rotating basis for decades.

The troop movement also comes after Iraq issued directives for boosting security along its side of the border to prevent further bombardment by Iran, according to a statement issued by Iraq’s military spokesman Maj Gen Yahya Rasool. Kurdish opposition groups have bases in Iraq’s Kurdish-run northern region.

Earlier this week, Iranian officials were quoted in state-run media as saying they did not have plans to conduct a ground military operation to root out opposition groups from the bases, despite having reportedly threatened to do so during the visit by top general Esmail Ghaani to Baghdad last week. — AP