Iraq announced on 31 October the completion of a 200-kilometer border security barrier on its border with Iran, coming as part of a border security agreement signed between Baghdad and Tehran earlier this year. 

Border authorities “completed the installation of a 200-kilometer-long security barrier and installed more than 150 thermal cameras within the border with Iran,” Iraqi state media cited an interior ministry official. 

“The actions target smuggling operations and illegal crossings along the border strip between Iraq and Iran.” 

In March, the Iraqi government signed a border security agreement with Iran, vowing to reign in Kurdish armed groups operating on the border. 

As part of the agreement, Baghdad agreed to disarm and relocate Kurdish militants before a 19 September deadline. 

Tehran had issued several warnings that it would resume military operations against the Kurdish armed groups near its border if Iraqi authorities did not properly implement the security pact. 

The dismantling process began in early September in coordination with Kurdish authorities in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region. 

"The security agreement with Iran has been put into practice by both the ruling parties in Erbil and Sulaymaniyah as the Kurdistan region has been under financial pressure from the federal government,” an anonymous Kurdish source told The New Arab on 14 September. 

Baghdad announced on the day of the deadline that its armed groups had been dismantled and relocated from the Iranian border.