Ali Shamkhani, a top official of Iranian Security, signed an agreement the day before yesterday in Baghdad to “protect the borders” of Iran and Iraq. The said agreement concerns the borders where the Iranian Kurdish opposition organizations, which are targeted by Tehran, are based, according to an announcement by the office of the Iraqi Prime Minister.

Mr. Shamkhani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme Security Council, jointly signed an agreement with his Iraqi counterpart, Qassem al-Araji, that provides for coordination in border protection and strengthening cooperation in various security-related fields, according to the press release of Mohammad Sia al-Sudani.

The visit took place on the eve of the twentieth anniversary of the US-led coalition’s invasion of Iraq. Today, relations between Baghdad and Tehran are closer than ever and Mr. Sudani’s government is supported by a pro-Iranian coalition of parties in parliament.

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Yet some Western capitals are warning against too much influence in Iraq by its neighbor, Iran, which considers the US its main enemy since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

According to the official Iranian news agency IRNA, yesterday Mr. Shamkhani accused illegal activities carried out by counter-revolutionaries and terrorist elements in the region of Iraqi Kurdistan and in northern Iraq, while he pointed out that the signed agreement can completely and fundamentally put an end to the “sinful” activities of these organizations.

Iranian Kurdish opposition factions holed up in northern Iraq were shelled by Iran’s Armed Forces in late 2022, as Tehran accused them of intruding into its territory to commit attacks and encourage anti-government demonstrations.

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The Iraqi government had then pledged to redeploy the federal government border guard in the region to de-escalate tensions.

At the time, Iran was reeling from the protest movement that broke out over the September 16 death of Mahsha Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian-Kurdish woman who had been arrested by morality police for violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code for women.

Iraq was one of the mediators in Iran’s negotiations with Saudi Arabia, which cut diplomatic ties in 2016 and announced it would restore them on March 10. Ali Shamkhani is considered to have been the architect of the rapprochement of relations from the Iranian side.

On his visit to Baghdad, Mr. Shamkhani was accompanied by the governor of Iran’s central bank as well as the Deputy Finance Minister, according to IRNA.

Trade exchanges are vital for both countries, especially in the energy sector. Iraq is heavily dependent on gas and electricity supplied by Iran.

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