ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) will deliver a “firm and decisive” response to any threats on its border areas, its commander said on Wednesday near the restive border with Iraq. “Any threat or attack on Iran’s borders will be met with a firm and decisive response from our armed forces,” commander of the Guards’ ground forces Mohammed Pakpour said, as cited by the semi-official Tasnim news agency. Pakpour was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the 19th Great Prophet military drills near its western border with Iraq, adjacent to Iraq’s Diyala province, where he said was a hotspot for “terrorist and takfiri” groups. The Islamic State (ISIS) has on several occasions infiltrated into Iranian territory from the Iraqi border, particularly when the jihadists controlled swathes of territory in Iraq from 2014 to 2017. Iranian-Kurdish opposition groups were based in the Kurdistan Region close to the border with Iran before they were moved away from the frontier as part of a security pact signed by Baghdad and Tehran last year. The Iranian-Kurdish opposition groups are the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), Komala, Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK), and the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK). The Kurdistan Region-Iran border is porous and there are numerous well-trodden smuggling routes. In October 2023, Iraq installed a 200-kilometer-long security barrier along the border with Iran, equipped with over 150 thermal cameras, in an attempt to thwart smuggling operations and crack down on illegal crossings.
