Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al Sudani has accepted the invitation extended yesterday by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to hold a meeting in Tehran to discuss the current military tension between the two countries in the semi-autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, according to government sources in Baghdad.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard deployed armored units and infantry to the border with Iraqi Kurdistan on Friday after reporting «suspicious movements» by «Kurdish opposition» groups, less than 24 hours after Baghdad announced its own military moves in response to Iranian and Turkish attacks on positions of these groups in the region.
This visit, which could take place this coming Monday at the earliest, was finalized after the meeting held yesterday between Al Sudani and the Iranian ambassador in Iraq, Mohamad Kazem Ale Sadeq, and will discuss, along with the situation in Kurdistan, «the evolution of the diplomatic talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran», in which Iraq acts as mediator», according to these sources to the Iraqi daily Al Sharq.
It should be recalled that Iran has for weeks been launching this series of cross-border missile and drone attacks on Kurdish-Iranian opposition groups, which it blames for fueling protests in its country over the death in custody of the young Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, allegedly for wearing the traditional Islamic headscarf incorrectly.
Al Sudani will travel accompanied by a delegation headed by his National Security Advisor, Qasem al Araji, the sources conclude.
On the other hand, the Kurdish president, Nechirvan Barzani, will travel this Sunday to Baghdad to meet with «several leaders and senior officials of the Iraqi government» in the framework of this crisis, according to the official Iraqi news agency, INA.
