TEHRAN – Iraqi National Security Advisor Qassem Al-Araji arrived in Iraqi Kurdistan on Saturday for talks on border issues with Iran.

Al-Araji arrived in Sulaymaniyah on orders from Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Sudani to review measures related to the implementation of the security agreement between Iran and Iraq regarding border security.

“Under the direction of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, the National Security Advisor went to Sulaymaniyah Governorate at the head of a security delegation to discuss the procedures of the security agreement between Iraq and Iran,” the office of Al-Araji said in a statement. 

The visit comes after Iran issued a warning to the Iraqi government to implement the security agreement signed between Tehran and Baghdad regarding border security.

A senior commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has said Iraq has made a commitment to disarm and drive out anti-Iranian militants operating in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.

“We are waiting for the Iraqi government to keep its promises, and we have given them a chance to get rid of the terrorists. Otherwise, and if nothing is done, the IRGC strikes would continue,” Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour, commander of the IRGC Ground Force, stated last week.

When asked by Tasnim if there is a limit in months or days, the general responded that the Iraqi government itself is aware of the time limit.

The top diplomats of Iran and Iraq held a phone conversation on Thursday in which they underlined the need to implement security agreements signed by both countries.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian and his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein also addressed the latest status of relations between Tehran and Baghdad.

Stressing the need to carry out an agreement on security cooperation between Iran and Iraq, the foreign ministers weighed plans for stronger regional collaboration, Tasnim reported.

The two senior diplomats emphasized the necessity for the implementation of a security agreement the two neighbors signed in March.

Earlier this month, Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib said that Iraq’s central government has provided guarantees on the security of Iran’s borders with Iraqi Kurdistan.

Speaking at a judicial gathering in Mashhad, Khatib said Iran has recently detained a terrorist group that tried to cross the western borders of Iran. “With the cooperation of the new Iraqi government and the guarantees given, we hope to see security on the western borders and the non-repetition of [insecurity], and we remind and emphasize the responsibility of the Iraqi [Kurdistan] region.”

He warned, “If insecurity is created for the Islamic Republic, any action on the borders will be met with a decisive and overwhelming response from the children of this nation in the armed forces and security agencies.”