Blaming Kurds for unrest, Iran threatens Iraq with offensiveBAGHDAD (AP) — A senior Iranian military official visiting Baghdad this week threatened Iraq with a ground military operation in the country’s north if the Iraqi army does not fortify the countries’ shared border against Kurdish opposition groups, multiple Iraqi and Kurdish officials said.The warning was delivered this week to Iraqi and Kurdish officials in Baghdad by Iran’s Quds Force commander Esmail Ghaani, who arrived in the capital Monday on an unannounced two-day visit.“We are hoping (the Kurdish region) won’t succumb to these threats.”Iraqi security officials have tried repeatedly to persuade Tehran that no weapons are being smuggled from Iraq to Iran, but “Iran ignores this,” according to a senior Kurdish official who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to speak freely.Some Kurdish groups have been engaged in a low-intensity conflict with Tehran ever since the 1979 Iranian Islamic Revolution, leading to many members seeking political exile in neighboring Iraq where they have established bases.“They firmly believe Mossad is using the Kurdish territory and Kurdish opposition groups to send weapons (and) fighters into Kurdish areas in Iran.”A sweep operation in northern Iraq, she said, would support the regime’s public narrative that outside forces foment the unrest and would address a lingering dispute Iran has had with the semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdish region about the activities of the groups in its territory."