TEHRAN – With the deadline Iran set for disarming Iranian Kurdish separatist groups coming to an end, Iranian officials started to take stock of the results of the ultimatum.

On Tuesday, the 19 September deadline came to an end amid uncertainties about the full disarmament of the separatist groups. In the lead-up to the deadline, several Iranian officials announced that the deadline wouldn’t be extended, signaling that military action would follow if Iran’s demands were not met.

Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Ashtiyani, the Iranian minister of defense, has echoed this warning. The Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) was given a deadline of September 19 to take action against separatist Iranian militants and this deadline would not be extended, he warned. 

In an interview with the Iran newspaper, Ashtiyani pointed out that the Islamic Republic will take the required steps in accordance with a deal reached with the Iraqi government about disarming and deporting terrorists from the Kurdistan region.

Of note, Iran and Iraq inked the security agreement in March in a bid to secure the joint border and remove the separatist groups from the Iran border with Iraqi Kurdistan. Under this deal, Iran demanded the expulsion and disarmament of the separatist groups, which the Iraqi federal and regional authorities appear to have done partially. 

Earlier, Tasnim reported that the separatist groups have agreed with a proposal from the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq to put aside their arms and stay away from Iran’s border.

Citing a political source in Iraqi Kurdistan, Tasnim said the KRG and the separatist groups have reached an agreement regarding Iran based on which the groups will lay down their arms and move away from the border with Iran. 

“The government of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq has practically started the measures to remove the Iranian opposition parties based in the Kurdistan Region in the border strip with Iran,” the source was quoted as saying on Saturday. 

The source added, “The opposition parties (terrorist separatist groups) have agreed to move to the camps already established in Erbil and Sulaymaniyah provinces.”

The source continued, “It is never true that the opponents have refused to agree to the terms of the security agreement between Iran and Iraq, and want to resort to military options.”

The source noted, “The opposition parties (terrorist separatists) have fully agreed with the actions of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government.”

Nasser Kanaani, the spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry, has confirmed that partial implementation of the security agreement. He has said that the Iraqi government has seriously followed up on the implementation of the agreement and “some headquarters of terrorist and armed groups have been evacuated and terrorists have been moved to other places far from Iran's borders and deep into Iraqi soil.”

Kanaani added, “The Iraqi government has seriously announced that it is committed to the implementation of the agreement and will fulfill its obligations in this regard.”

On Tuesday, Iraqi announced that the headquarters of the separatist groups were fully evacuated, according to a report by the Iraqi News Agency (INA).

“Based on the commitment of the Republic of Iraq and the Islamic Republic of Iran to the terms of the joint security agreement, and through the joint efforts of the federal government, the regional government, and the joint supreme committee between the two countries, the headquarters located near the border with Iran, which were occupied by Iranian opposition groups, were permanently evacuated,” Iraq said in a statement. 

It added, “They were transferred to a place far from the border, and weapons were removed from these groups in preparation for them being considered refugees in accordance with the controls of the High Commissioner for Refugees. Federal border forces were also deployed and permanently present in those areas, and the Iraqi flag was raised there.”

Earlier, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, the Iranian foreign minister, appreciated Iraq’s cooperation with Iran regarding the implementation of the security agreement. In a meeting his Iraqi counterpart, Fuad Hussein, Amir Abdollahian appreciated “the visit of the Deputy Prime Minister to Tehran last Wednesday, which resulted in the consolidation of joint cooperation and reaching the start of implementing the security agreement between the two countries, as the Iraqi government took the initiative, in joint work with the Kurdistan Regional Government, to take the necessary and necessary measures,” according to INA.