Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani met in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, with a delegation from the US Congress headed by Senator Mark Takano.
to discuss the ongoing military attacks carried out by Iran and Turkey on the territory of Iraq, at a time when Iran announced sending armored units and special forces to Kurdish areas;
To prevent the infiltration of terrorists.
A source in the Prime Minister's office told Al-Jazeera that the meeting between Al-Sudani and the US Congressional delegation dealt with a discussion of Iraqi concern over the continuation of Iranian and Turkish armed attacks on Iraqi territory.
The source added that the delegation expressed its rejection and condemnation of the attacks launched by Iran, stressing the US administration's support for Iraq in its stand against the attacks. He also made it clear that Al-Sudani pledged that his government would work to protect and give priority to the human rights file in the country.
Armored units and special forces
Meanwhile, the commander of the ground forces in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard announced - today, Friday - that armored units and special forces had been sent to Kurdish regions, with the aim of "preventing the infiltration of terrorists" from Iraq.
"Some armored units and special forces of the ground forces are currently heading to the border provinces in the west and northwest of the country," General Muhammad Pakpour said, according to what was reported by the Tasnim news agency.
He added, "The measure taken by the ground force of the Revolutionary Guards is based on strengthening the units stationed on the border, and preventing the infiltration of terrorist groups affiliated with separatist groups stationed in the northern region of Iraq."
On Tuesday, Pakpour "advised" the residents of the areas located close to "the areas adjacent to the bases of the terrorist groups, to evacuate them so that they would not be injured during the operations of the Revolutionary Guards."
Iraqi strategy to control the borders
And Iraq announced the day before yesterday, Wednesday, in a statement, after a meeting of the Ministerial Council for National Security headed by Al-Sudani, about a "strategy" to secure the borders with Iran and Turkey.
The statement said, "The government decided to develop a plan to redeploy the Iraqi border forces, to hold the zero line along the borders with Iran and Turkey."
He explained that this plan will be developed "in coordination with the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq and the Ministry of Peshmerga," noting that the Chief of Staff of the Peshmerga participated in the meeting.
On Tuesday, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard carried out missile strikes and booby-trapped drone attacks on sites belonging to the Iranian Kurdish opposition stationed in Iraqi Kurdistan, the autonomous region in northern Iraq.
In turn, Turkey launched last Sunday a military operation against sites of the Kurdistan Workers' Party and the Kurdish People's Protection Units in northern Iraq and Syria.
According to observers, it appears that the Iraqi declaration is directed specifically at Iran, which confirmed earlier Wednesday its intention to continue confronting the "threat" emanating from the Iraqi region.
Iranian Kurdish groups have been present in Iraqi Kurdistan since the eighties, and Tehran accuses them of launching attacks on its territory.
Experts say that these groups have stopped almost all of their military activities, but the Iranian authorities accuse them of fomenting the unrest in Iran since September 16, following the death of the Iranian Kurdish young woman, Mahsa Amini, after she was stopped by the morality police for not adhering to strict dress codes.