AFP: Iran will re-opens its border with Iraq 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. TEHRAN (AFP) Iran will re-opens its border with Iraq 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 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.
Iran and the Kurdish 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 Kurdish 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 invasion.
