Iraq announces possible suspension of security agreement with Iran

The Minister of Defense of Iraq, Thabet al Abbasi, condemned Iran's bombing of Erbil, announcing that due to the attack, the security agreement between the two countries could be suspended.

In an interview with the Saudi-owned pan-Arab broadcaster "Al Arabiya", the minister reiterated his strong condemnation of the Iranian attack, which occurred on the night between Monday 15 and Tuesday 16 January, when Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (the Pasdaran) attacked Erbil, the capital of the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, with ballistic missiles.

What Iran is doing, the minister continued, "is harmful to bilateral relations". In fact, according to the Iraqi Defense Minister, these attacks contradict the border security agreement between Iran and Iraq, ratified on March 19th. The agreement signed in 2023 requires Iraq to commit not to allow armed groups to use its territory in Iraq's Kurdish region to launch attacks across the border against neighbouring Iran.

Following yesterday's attack, the Pasdaran claimed to have hit "one of the main espionage headquarters of the Zionist regime (Israel) in the region of Israel" with ballistic missiles. Kurdistan Iraqi", responsible for "planning terrorist actions in the region and above all in our beloved country". In this regard, Minister Al Abbasi complained that he "had to provide the Iraqi authorities with information on intelligence activities in Erbil for verification".

In the interview with "Al Arabiya", Iraqi Defense Minister Al Abbasi also spoke on the possibility of a withdrawal plan for the international coalition forces, led by the United States. This eventuality, he said, "will be studied based on field operations and the readiness of the army", underlining that the US government has asked for the attacks to be stopped.

Iraq yesterday presented a complaint against Iran to the United Nations Security Council regarding the attack on the city of Erbil, since, as it declared exclusively to "Al Arabiya", the Iranian bombing "threatens security and stability in the region." “This attack targeted unarmed civilians and Iran did not inform us before it was carried out,” Al Abbasi concluded.

These statements come in conjunction with the indiscretion reported by "Al Arabiya", according to which the Iraqi Foreign Minister, Fuad Hussein, had cancelled the meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, scheduled in Davos, where the economic forum is underway, in protest over the missile attack on Erbil.

Furthermore, “Al Arabiya” reports that the prime minister of the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, Masour Barzani, would have cancelled the meeting with the head of Iranian diplomacy which should have also taken place during the event underway in Davos.