Iran says Iraq will expel exiled Kurdish opposition members

Iran’s ambassador to Baghdad, Mohammad Al Sadegh, stated on Tuesday that Iraq has agreed to either expel or hand over members of Iranian Kurdish opposition groups to Tehran. According to The National Business, these groups have taken refuge in the Iraqi Kurdistan region. Al Sadegh made the claim following a Monday meeting of the Iraq-Iran joint security committee in Baghdad.

The meeting included an Iraqi delegation led by National Security Adviser Qasim Al Aboudi, which also featured representatives from the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region. In a statement on X, Al Sadegh said both sides agreed to remove elements of Iranian separatist terrorist groups from the region or hand them over to Iran. An official Iraqi readout of the meeting noted that both sides discussed implementing a joint security agreement and identified solutions for outstanding files and problems.

The National Business reports that there was no immediate comment from the Iraqi government, the Kurdistan region, or Al Aboudi regarding the ambassador's statement. This development follows a March 2023 bilateral security agreement in which Baghdad committed to disarming Iranian Kurdish opposition groups, relocating them from the border area, and preventing Iraqi territory from being used for attacks.

Brief written by urgent.news from Punch Nigeria, Punch, The National Business — 3 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.