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Iran to re-open its border with Iraqi
Kurdistan region
6.10.2007
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October
6, 2007
TEHRAN, -- Iran will re-opens its border with
Iraqi Kurdistan on Sunday after a two-week closure
to protest at the detention of an Iranian by US
troops, the semi-official news agency Fars reported.
"It has been agreed to re-open the borders as of
tomorrow (Sunday), October 7, 2007" Iran's Supreme
National Security Council's deputy in charge of
domestic security, Mohammad Jafari, was quoted as
saying on Saturday.
Tehran had
closed its
borders with Kurdistan 'northern Iraq' on September
24 following the
detention of
Mahmoud Farhadi by US forces.
The US military charges that Farhadi is an officer
in the covert operations arm of Iran's elite
Revolutionary Guards, accused by American commanders
of helping Shiite militias involved in Iraq's bloody
sectarian conflict.
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Pedestrians wait behind the closed gates on the
Iranian side of the Iraqi Kurdistan-Iran border
crossing of Haj Omran, September 2007. Iran will
re-open its border with Iraq on 7 October AFP |
Iran and the Kurdistan
regional government however say Farhadi is a
businessman who was part of a commercial delegation
visiting Sulaimaniyah.
According to Kurdistan trade minister Mohammed Raouf,
the closure has cost the autonomous Kurdistan region
one million dollars
a day as trucks conveying goods remained stuck at
the border.
"After two days of negotiations, it was agreed that
Iraq takes necessary steps to control the border and
block the penetration of terrorists into the Iranian
soil," Jafari said of the results of recent talks
with a high-ranking Kurdish delegation in Tehran.
The talks would continue on October 18, he said.
Iran has accused the United States of turning a
blind eye to the actions of the local rebels.
Washington also accuses Tehran of fomenting unrest
in Iraq since the 2003 liberation.
AFP
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