TEHRAN- The Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces has urged Iraq to continue disbanding terrorist groups hostile to Iran in the country’s Kurdistan region and drive them out of the border regions.

Major General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri made the remarks during a meeting on Sunday with Iraqi Interior Minister Abdul Amir al-Shammari on Sunday.

Iraq has already taken steps to relocate anti-Iranian terrorist groups away from the Kurdistan region’s borders with Iran, a move that won Bagheri’s appreciation.

The Baghdad government is anticipated to continue its actions until the terrorist groups are completely disarmed, the Iranian general noted, stressing that there are still worries and hints regarding the presence of a number of terrorist elements near the shared border.

“There is still evidence and concern about the presence of certain terrorist elements in the border region, and the Iraqi government is expected to keep up the border control job until the complete disarmament of those groups,” the top Iranian general added. 

According to the commander, the 1,500-kilometer border between Iran and Iraq must be secure for fostering friendship, trade, and tourism.

To guarantee complete border security, he detailed measures for close collaboration between the border guards of Iran and Iraq.

For his part, the interior minister of Iraq praised the Iranian Armed Forces’ joint efforts with Iraq to strengthen border security. 

According to Shammari, Iraq prioritizes obtaining total control over all Iranian border crossings.

At the end of the meeting, General Baqeri toured an exhibition of Iraqi defense equipment.

Iraq conducted a series of operations to allay Iran’s concerns after Tehran set a deadline of September 19 for the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to take action against militant separatists stationed along the common border.

In 2022, the IRGC initiated a series of military strikes on the locations of separatist groups in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region.

Iran and Iraq inked a security deal in Baghdad on March 19, which included border protection coordination.

In accordance with the deal, the Iraqi government agreed to disband separatist and terrorist groups operating in the Kurdistan region by September 19, relocate them from their military barracks to camps run by the Baghdad government, and abandon their military barracks.

On September 23, Iraq’s Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein declared that his nation had put the security agreement’s terms into effect.

Bagheri arrived in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Saturday night for a three-day visit. He was in Baghdad upon an invitation by his Iraqi counterpart. Baqeri was accompanied by a number of high-ranking military and political officials.

Upon arrival in the Iraqi capital, the commander and his accompanying delegation visited a site near Baghdad’s international airport where General Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were assassinated in a U.S. drone attack in January 2020. Bagheri and his delegation paid tribute to the martyr commanders.  

At a meeting with his Iraqi counterpart, Abdel Emir Rashid Yarallah, on Sunday, he said that Tehran signaled readiness to thwart any possible threats against Iraqi territorial integrity and national sovereignty.

Iran’s top general cited the positive relations and shared experiences between the two neighbors as evidence that Iraq was moving toward peace and durable security.

In another meeting on Sunday, General Baqeri and Iraqi Defense Minister Thabet Muhammad Al-Abbasi talked about a range of issues.

The leading military figures from Iran and Iraq emphasized their nations’ support for Palestine, stating that the two neighbors share similar opinions regarding the Gaza war.

The senior Iranian commander stated that the two Muslim neighbors also share similar opinions about Palestine and the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza, pointing to the same positions of the Iranian and Iraqi governments and religious leaders about significant regional and global events.