The Associated Press quoted Iraqi officials as saying that a prominent Iranian military official - who visited Baghdad recently - threatened to launch a ground military operation in northern Iraq if the Iraqi army did not fortify the common borders between the two countries, to prevent the infiltration of Iranian Kurdish opposition groups.
The agency said that in the event of such an attack by Iranian forces, it would be unprecedented in Iraq, and would raise the specter of regional repercussions from internal unrest in Iran.
The agency stated that the warning was delivered to Iraqi and Kurdish officials in Baghdad by the commander of the Quds Force (affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard) Ismail Qaani, who arrived last Monday in Baghdad on an unannounced visit that lasted for two days.
The increase of Qani came one day after an Iranian missile attack targeted a base of the Iranian Kurdish opposition in Erbil (the center of the Kurdistan region), killing 3 people.
Tehran accuses Iranian Kurdish opposition groups based in the Iraqi Kurdistan region of instigating anti-government protests in Iran and smuggling weapons into the country.
The information indicates - according to local sources - that Qani met with Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shia' al-Sudani, other leaders of the Coordination Framework Coalition, and the new President Abdul Latif Rashid, in addition to leaders of the Iraqi armed factions.
Qaani's demands consisted of two parts, "disarming the Kurdish groups opposed to Iran in northern Iraq, and fortifying the borders to prevent infiltration."
Smoke rises from the headquarters of an Iranian Kurdish party in Iraqi Kurdistan (Reuters)
Do not underestimate Iran's security
And last week, commenting on the attacks launched by Tehran on the Kurdistan region, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said that it would not tolerate Iran's border security, and would respond to the threats of what it described as "separatist groups" in Iraqi Kurdistan.
And she stressed that her response came after Baghdad and the Kurdistan region did not take measures to confront the threats of the Kurdish groups, blaming the Iraqi government for "preventing destabilizing Iran's security" from within its territory.
She added that the "Kurdish separatists" carried out operations against Iran, and that targeting their headquarters comes within the framework of Tehran's right to self-defense.
On the other hand, the UN mission in Iraq condemned the Iranian attacks on Iraqi Kurdistan, considering that they violate Iraqi sovereignty.
She stressed that the common security concerns between Iraq and Iran must be resolved through dialogue.
For her part, the US ambassador to Baghdad expressed the same position, as she condemned the attacks and called on Tehran to stop them, stressing that they are attacks that violate Iraq's sovereignty.
The Iranian news agency Fars said that the Iranian attacks are only the "first stage" of an Iranian military attack on the sites of "terrorist" groups in northern Iraq.
And the Land Relations Department of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard had announced - earlier - the launch of operations targeting "terrorist" sites in northern Iraq, and said, "This operation will continue decisively until the threat is effectively repelled and the strongholds of terrorist groups are dismantled."