Iran increases troop presence on Iraq border

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Photo: Morteza Nikoubazl/ REUTERS

Iran wants to increase its troop presence on the border with Iraq.

Additional special forces and armored units are being deployed to the west and north-west of the country, as the commander of the Revolutionary Guards Ground Forces (IRGC) announced on Friday.

According to Brigadier General Mohammed Pakpur, this is intended to prevent "terrorists" from entering, reported the Tasnim news agency, which is close to the IRGC.

In recent weeks, the Revolutionary Guards have repeatedly attacked targets in northern Iraq with rockets and kamikaze drones.

Iran senses support for the anti-government protests in its own country in the Kurdish regions of the neighboring country.

Observers see the increased military presence as a domestic maneuver to distract attention from the insurgency.

Activists, meanwhile, shared videos of troop movements with tanks en route to the border region.

The recordings could not initially be independently verified.

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• Protests in Iran: The regime punishes the Kurds so brutally for their resistanceBy Gilda Sahebi

The trigger for the mass protests in Iran was the death of the young Iranian Kurd Jina Mahsa Amini, who was arrested in mid-September for disregarding Islamic dress codes and died a short time later in a hospital.

Starting in the Kurdish regions, the protests spread across the country.

Iran violently crushes them.

UN Human Rights Council decides to investigate

The UN Human Rights Council decided on Thursday to conduct an independent investigation into the ongoing violence by the Iranian security apparatus against peacefully demonstrating people.

Experts are to document violations of human rights and collect evidence so that those responsible for the violence can one day be held accountable.

Germany and Iceland had submitted a corresponding resolution.

Iran criticized the approach "It is unfortunate that the UN Human Rights Council was once again exploited by a few Western countries to implement this anti-Iran initiative," the Iranian foreign ministry said.

The UN resolution is based solely on false information and lies from the western media.

mfh/dpa