An Iranian "secret service" office has closed in the northern Iraqi Kurd town of Dohuk at the request of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), a Kurdish source said Monday. "On May 8, the Iranians left an office they had in Dohuk at the request of the KDP," said Hussein Yazdanpana, secretary of the Union of Kurdistan Revolutionaries. Yazdanpana said the closure was a "normal event in the current situation in Iraq where the United States control the situation and prevent any interference by neighbouring states in Iraqi affairs." Iran had been running "three offices in northern Iraqi towns for seven years. These offices were not representing the Iranian government but carried out spying and surveillance in the region," he said.
| Freelancers? It takes a bit of coinage to run an intel network. Sounds more like (barely) plausible deniability... |
The United States has asked the KDP and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan to bar the entry of Iranian officials into northern Iraq, Yazdanpana added. |