TEHRAN - After warning against anti-Iran movements, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) pounded the positions of terrorists in northern Iraq on Thursday morning. 

The IRGC Ground Force used suicide and combat drones as well as smart and precision-guided artillery to target the terrorists in the semi-autonomous region's rugged mountains, Press TV reported.

It came days after Mohammad Pakpour, the IRGC Ground Force chief, warned the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) not to allow terrorist and counter-revolutionary groups to use its territory to threaten the Islamic Republic.

In remarks on September 6, Pakpour said armed terrorist groups use the northern territory in northern Iraq as a base to sow insecurity in border regions with Iran, warning that “continuation of this situation is not tolerable for us and we will give the necessary response to terrorists.”

General Pakpour noted that Iran has frequently warned and informed the KRG officials about the moves by armed terrorist groups in northern Iraq to penetrate into Iran and threaten the country’s security.

In his September 6 warning, General Pakpour said these groups are affiliated to the imperialist front and foreign intelligence services. 

He warned of a crushing response and asked the inhabitants of the region to distance themselves from the terrorists’ positions so that they remain safe.

In September 2018, an Iranian missile strike on the terrorist headquarters in Iraq's Kurdish region killed 15 people. Also in July 2019, the IRGC attacked suspected terrorists in Iraqi Kurdistan, killing and wounding several gunmen.

The Iraqi Kurdistan Region has been used for a long time by anti-Iran terror groups such as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and its offshoot, PJAK, which are active in Iraq and Turkey, to launch occasional attacks against the positions of Iranian border guards and border areas in northwestern parts of the country. The attacks have been invariably faced with crushing responses from Iran's border guards and other military units deployed in those areas.