TEHRAN, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- Iran's defense minister said Tuesday that his country will boost cooperation with Iraq in the fight against any moves to disintegrate the country, semi-official Fars news agency reported.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran is opposed to disintegration of Iraq and distortion of the country's borders. We consider the separation move (of Kurds) as harmful to the regional security," Brigadier General Amir Hatami was quoted as saying.
"We won't spare any effort to safeguard the regional countries' territorial integrity and stability," Hatami said, adding that disintegrity of Iraq will play into the hands of United States and Israel and is doomed to failure.
Any attempt to disintegrate the regional countries is the other face of terrorism, and the countries which have organized the terrorist groups in the region are now supporting secession, he said.
In the face of these challenges, "we will certainly have more cooperation with Iraq to confront such moves," he stressed.
On Monday, Iranian Army launched military exercises in common borders with Iraq, and parts of Iraqi military forces joined the drill.
Following the recent controversial independence referendum of Iraqi Kurdistan region, Iran's air force reinforced its defensive role along the country's western borders by deploying new missile hardware.
Last week, the Iranian Army and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) staged joint military drills along the country's western border areas.
The IRGC also staged independent drills in the Kurdish populated western provinces.
According to the Iranian military officials, the ongoing war games signals the message of peace and security to the friends and reminds the enemies that the country's borders will be powerfully protected against hostile moves.
On Tuesday, lieutenant commander of Iran's Ground Force, Nozar Nemati, said that "The ongoing war games are staged given the recent events in the region and the Army uses all its power to safeguard the national interests, the Iranian borders and sustainable security," Nemati was quoted as saying by Fars.
