Iraq denies arming Iranian opposition

Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said on Tuesday that Baghdad has not provided arms to Iranian opposition groups operating on Iraqi soil, reiterating the government’s opposition to US and Israeli military actions against Iran.

Speaking in an interview with Al-Arabiya Al-Hadath television, Hussein said that mutual strikes on Iraqi territory —conducted by both Iran and the United States— have effectively drawn Iraq into the war without a formal government decision to that effect, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.

He attributed the escalation to weak internal control over armed factions, noting that Iraq's armed groups do not hold the authority to declare war or peace on behalf of the state.

Hussein denied the existence of any armed activity by Iranian opposition groups operating from Iraqi soil, stating that these factions are present in camps in a refugee capacity. The Iranian Kurdish opposition groups —exile parties including the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran, the Komala Party, and the Kurdistan Freedom Party— have maintained camps in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq for decades.

Tehran has long accused these groups of crossing the border to attack its forces or of inciting unrest in its Kurdish-populated areas.

News.Az 

By Ulviyya Salmanli