Iran Moving towards Forming Military Alliance with Turkey, Iraq

In an editorial on Tuesday, the Persian-language Sobh-e Now daily has discussed the possibility of forming a regional military alliance between Iran and its neighbours. Here are excerpts from the piece:

The new round of efforts made by General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran to expand military and security cooperation with its neighbours is of great importance.

Major General Mohammad Baqeri’s visit to Turkey last month was an effective initiative that took place at this level for the first time since the Islamic Revolution of Iran, and paved the way for further military interactions between Tehran, Ankara and Baghdad.

As the situation is getting worse in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, this cooperation is becoming more serious, and over the past days we have witnessed more visits made by the senior military officials of the three countries.

In the history of military cooperation between Iran, Turkey and Iraq, we see the three countries have signed the Baghdad Treaty (CENTO) in 1955. The treaty was signed by the order of trans-national powers so as to compete with the former Soviet Union, but it quickly changed its way and broke down.

However, at present the new military cooperation is based on genuinely realistic dimensions, and the seriousness of the risk of disintegration on the one hand next to the threats of terrorist groups on the other hand have made all the three countries stand together.

In light of these military and security collaborations, one can expect the three countries stop transnational interventions. By such collaboration and sharing experiences, they can also confront the new emerging threats and foil the plots of enemies to disintegrate the region into smaller parts and altering the equations in favor of the Zionist regime.

The pre-emptive and rapid coordination between the three countries regarding the Kurdish region case is a model of successful regional military cooperation. It surprised international observers and also foiled the new sectarianism plot hatched by US, Israel and their Arab allies in the region.