Iran Won’t Extend Deadline for Action against KRG-Based Terrorists: Defense Minister

In an interview with Iran newspaper, Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Ashtiani said the Islamic Republic is going to take the necessary action according to an agreement with the government of Iraq on the disarmament and expulsion of terrorists from the Kurdistan Region.

He emphasized that the deadline of September 19 set by Tehran won’t be extended.

The defense minister noted that a series of measures have been taken, adding that Iran will carry out a last-minute assessment of the situation before making the final decision.

On Friday, an informed source told Tasnim that the terrorist secessionist groups have accepted the Iraqi Kurdistan Region’s call for them to disarm and get out of the border strip between Iran and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

“The opposition parties (terrorist secessionist groups) have agreed on relocation to the camps that have been already set up in the provinces of Erbil and Sulaymaniyah,” the source added, denying rumors that the opposition parties have declined to accept the provision of a security agreement between Iraq and Iran or have plans to take up the option of military action.

Iran has set a deadline of September 19 for the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government to take action against anti-Iran terrorists stationed along the common border.

In July, Iran’s highest-ranking military commander cautioned the Iraqi government that its failure to meet a deadline of September for action against hostile armed groups in its northern regions will result in a fresh round of Iranian military strikes against them.

“Armed secessionist groups are there in northern Iraq that cause insecurity at our borders,” Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri said.