Arbil, 07 October 2007 (Voices of Iraq)

A senior Iranian official confirmed that Iran will reopen its border crossings with Iraq’s Kurdistan on Sunday after two weeks’ closure following the U.S. arrest of an Iranian trade delegation in Sulaimaniya.

“The visit currently paid by a delegation from Iraq’s Kurdistan government has led Iran to decide to reopen the border crossings with the Kurdistan region as of Sunday,” the Iranian news agency (IRNA) quoted Mohammed Jaafari, an official in the Iranian National Council, as saying.

Earlier, a source close to the Kurdish delegation, currently on a visit to Iran, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) that an agreement had been reached between Iran and Iraq’s Kurdistan region to reopen the border crossings.

“The Kurdish delegation discussed over the last two days many problems related to the borders between Iran and Iraq, and according to the results reached, we decided to reopen the border crossings,” the Iranian official told IRNA.

The official also said that the two sides agreed on a number of measures to be taken by the Iraqi side to prevent “infiltration of terrorist elements into Iran.”

Two weeks ago, the Iranian authorities closed its five border crossings with Iraq’s Kurdistan region after the U.S. forces arrested Mahmoud Farhadi, an Iranian trade delegation member, while in Sulaimaniya.

U.S. forces accused Farhadi of bringing arms from Iran into Iran, describing him as a senior official at the Iranian Revolutionary Guards-Quds Force.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman denied the U.S. accusation directed against Farhadi, describing him as a civil servant at Karminshah province local administration. Iraq Updates

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