Fearing Kurds, Iran beefs up Iraq border

BAGHDAD — Iran has sent additional units of special forces to fortify its northern border with Iraq and clamp down on what it says is infiltration by Kurdish opposition groups, Iranian state media reported Friday.

Gen. Mohammad Pakpour, chief of ground forces of the paramilitary Iranian Revolutionary Guard, said “armored and special forces” units had been deployed to west and northwest provinces to bolster existing border security, the official IRNA news agency reported.

The deployment aims to prevent infiltration and the smuggling of weapons in the north by Kurdish opposition groups exiled in Iraq that Tehran claims is orchestrating anti-government protests. It is a claim the Kurdish groups deny and to date Iran has not provided any evidence to support it.

Iran has several military bases near the Iraqi border and forces have been present there on a rotating basis for decades.

The troop movement also comes after Iraq issued directives for boosting security along its side of the border to prevent further bombardment by Iran, according to a statement issued by Iraq’s military spokesman Maj. Gen. Yahya Rasool. Kurdish opposition groups have bases in Iraq’s Kurdish-run northern region.