Iran not involved in Turkey operation against PKK: Informed source

An informed Iranian source denies Turkish interior minister’s comments that Tehran carried out a joint operation with Ankara against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant group.

An informed source at the Chiefs of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces told IRNA on Monday that Turkey’s army had launched an operation against the PKK in its eastern borders earlier in the day.

The Iranian Armed Forces were not involved in the operation, he added.

The source, however, said, “The Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will severely counter any group that intends to create insecurity in our country.”

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said earlier on Monday that Turkey and Iran had carried out a joint operation against PKK militants.

“We started carrying out an operation with Iran against the PKK on our eastern border this morning (and) will announce the result,” Turkey’s news agency Anadolu quoted Soylu as saying.

Iran has had its own struggle with the PKK’s Iranian offshoot, the so-called Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), which has waged several terrorist attacks in western Iran over the past years.

The terror group carries out attacks in parts of Iran’s West Azarbaijan province which borders Iraq, Turkey, and Armenia.