Iraqi parliament speaker to visit Tehran soon

Iraqi Parliament Speaker Osama Al-Nujaifi plans to pay a visit to Tehran at the head of a high-ranking delegation in the near future in a bid to discuss bilateral ties and other issues of mutual interest. The official in charge of the Iraq parliament's Information and Press Bureau, Mohammad Abubakr, told FNA on Wednesday that Al-Nujaifi's visit to Iran would take place in coming days, but declined to mention any specific date for the visit. He said that during the trip, the Iraqi parliament speaker would attend meetings with senior Iranian officials, including his counterpart Ali Larijani. "At the meetings," Abubakr said, "the Iraqi parliament speaker will discuss expansion of relations between the two sides and the recent events at the two countries' borders." Iran's border with Iraq has been the scene of clashes between the Iranian troops and the forces of the terrorist PJAK group in the last few months. PJAK, a militant Kurdish nationalist group with bases in the mountainous regions of Northern Iraq, has been carrying out numerous attacks in Western Iran, Southern Turkey and the Northeastern parts of Syria where Kurdish populations live. In July, the IRGC arrested several teams of PJAK, who intended to infiltrate Iran to stage terrorist operations in the country. In response, Iran deployed about 5,000 military forces in the Northwestern parts of the country along its joint border with the Iraqi Kurdistan region. During the operations, the IRGC forces killed, injured and arrested tens of terrorists and destroyed their headquarters in the bordering areas of Alvatan near Sardasht city in Northwestern Iran. But, upon a request by Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), the group was given a one-month grace period during the Muslims' holy fasting month of Ramadan to retreat from the Northwestern borders of the Islamic Republic and stop its terrorist acts in these regions. "But the PJAK terrorist group paid no heed to the KRG's appeals and mediation and martyred two local Kurdish forces… and this proved to the KRG that the terrorists had ignored its requests," IRGC Colonel Hamid Ahmadi said at the time. The IRGC resumed military operations against the Iraq-based PJAK terrorist group after its one-month deadline to the terrorist group ended. Senior Iranian political and military officials have always underlined that the IRGC will continue operations against the terrorist group in a bid to defend Iran's territorial integrity. PJAK reportedly called for a ceasefire with Iran after some of their members were killed and others injured in the IRGC's latest round of operations against the terrorist group. Earlier this month, the IRGC announced that it had arrested two senior commanders of the terrorist PJAK group in an operation in the Northwestern parts of the country. The number two man and second leader of the PJAK terrorist group, Majid Kavian, had also been killed in an earlier IRGC operation in Northwestern Iran. The deputy commander of the Iraq-based PJAK terrorist group, Majid Kavian, alias Semko Sarholdan, was killed in an IRGC operation in Northwestern Iran earlier this month. The website of the terrorist group confirmed his death in a statement. After the group sustained a heavy toll and injuries during the new round of IRGC operations, the ringleader of PJAK, Abdul Rahman Haji Ahmadi, told the BBC Persian channel that the group will continue fighting with Iranian forces if the IRGC refuses to accept the ceasefire. In reply, the IRGC said it would not accept a ceasefire with the PJAK before the Iraq-based terrorist group leaves Iranian borders. But, after repeated demands by the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government officials, the IRGC Ground Force called on the Iraqi Kurdistan's regional government to specify the terms and contents of the ceasefire demand presented by the Iraq-based PJAK terrorist group. The IRGC Ground Force also underlined the necessity for the withdrawal of all outlaws, anti-revolutionary forces and elements of the PJAK terrorist group from the bordering areas of Iran. It has been reported that PJAK and PKK members have dug new tunnels in the Jasosan heights close to Iran's border regions over the past month, exploiting the IRGC ceasefire during the fasting month of Ramadan. In addition, PJAK and PKK terrorists have received new weapons and equipment, including 120-millimeter mortars and walkie-talkies, from the US consulate in the Northern Iraqi city of Arbil. Two days ago, the IRGC forces also seized the headquarters of the anti-revolutionary grouplet in Jasosan heights near Iran's Northwestern city of Sardasht.