Iran summons Iraq's ambassador over presence of opposition groups in Kurdish region

Iran has summoned Iraq’s ambassador to protest over the presence of Iranian opposition groups at an official ceremony in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region, media reported on May 14.

Al Arabiya reports that quoting the foreign ministry, the ISNA news agency said that during a meeting on May 13, Tehran expressed its “strong objection” to the invitation of members of “separatist groups” at the ceremony “contrary to the recent security agreement between the Islamic Republic and Iraq.”

Iran uses the words “separatist groups” to describe Kurdish factions opposed to the Iranian government and considers them to be “terrorist” organizations.

Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region hosts camps and rear bases operated by several Iranian Kurdish factions, which Iran has accused of serving Western or Israeli interests in the past.

On May 11 a ceremony was held in the Kurdistan region to inaugurate a cultural centre in tribute to the late Kurdish national hero Mustafa Barzani.

The event was attended by Iraqi President Abdel Latif Rashid and Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, as well as representatives of Iranian opposition groups.

“Following the invitation of members of separatist groups to an official ceremony in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and the continuation of some terrorist groups’ movements in this region, the Iraqi ambassador in Tehran was summoned to the Foreign Ministry of foreign on May 13 [May 13],” ISNA said.

In November, Iran launched cross-border missile and drone strikes against several of the groups in northern Iraq, accusing them of stoking nationwide protests triggered by the death in custody last September of Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini.