Iraqi leader says security deal signed with visiting Iranian defense czar

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani says he met Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and “sponsored the signing of a joint security memorandum of understanding… regarding security coordination on the common border between the two countries.”

Larijani, who heads Iran’s top defense body, said ahead of his trip to Iraq that an “important security deal” with Iraq had been drafted, according to state-run IRNA news agency.

Larijani and al-Sudani have not provided any details.

Iraq’s National Security Adviser Qassim al-Araji also confirms meeting Larijani, saying in a separate succinct statement that they discussed “the implementation of the security agreement signed between the two countries” and “emphasized that the Iraqi government is working diligently to prevent any security breach aimed at encroaching upon any neighboring country.”

Larijani “praised the Iraqi government and its balanced foreign policy,” the statement says.

The two “also discussed the security situation in the region and the crimes of starvation and killing of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip,” calling for the international community to take action.

Al-Sudani told The Associated Press in an interview last month that he used a mix of political and military pressure to stop armed groups in Iraq aligned with Iran from becoming a part of the June war between Jerusalem and Tehran.