Source: Iraq weighs moving Iranian Kurdish groups to Al-Muthanna

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraqi political leaders are discussing a proposal to move Iranian Kurdish opposition groups out of the Kurdistan Region (KRI) and house them elsewhere in Iraq, as part of efforts to resolve the issue of their presence on Iraqi soil, political sources told Shafaq News on Wednesday.

One option under discussion is a facility in south-central Iraq, with Samawah in Al-Muthanna province among the locations being considered, one source said.

The source said the idea draws on previous arrangements used for political and security reasons, citing Rafha camp and Iraq's past hosting of members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK).

Read more: Iraqi–Iranian Security MoU rekindles a decade of border deals—and old controversies

Handing the groups' members over to Iran has been ruled out for now, a second source said. Moving them to central or southern Iraq could serve as a temporary solution and open the way for some to be resettled in Europe later.

The idea has come up several times in Iraqi political circles, particularly at meetings of the ruling Shiite Coordination Framework, but no decision has been taken, the second source said.

Iranian Kurdish opposition groups have kept camps in the Kurdistan Region for decades. On October 12, Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani said the KRI had warned them at the start of the regional war between Iran and the United States that they would not be allowed to attack Iran from its territory.

Read more: Iranian Kurdish opposition rejects disarmament in Iraq