Iran to increase border security

Iran's interior minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar says the government has devised a new comprehensive plan for enhancing control and security along the country's borders, PressTV reported.

Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar told IRNA late on Sunday that the new plan has been implemented along the eastern and northwestern borders of the country, and will be put in practice along the entire borders of the Islamic Republic in the near future.

The official noted that the ninth government has increased the credits allocated to border security 17-fold compared with those of the previous administrations.

He added that the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic and the provincial governors' offices are executing the plan throughout the country.

Earlier in January, Mohammad-Najjar went to Muscat for a two-day visit to hold talks with senior Omani officials on ways to tighten security and improve bilateral cooperation.

In addition, Iran and Iraq signed a memorandum of understanding on improving border cooperation in October to step up the campaign against terrorism and prevent illegal border crossings.

Iran has 5,440 kilometers of total land borders. The country shares its northern borders with Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan which extend for more than 2,000 kilometers, including about 650 kilometers of water along the southern shore of the Caspian Sea.

Iran's western borders are with Turkey in the north and Iraq in the south, and to the east with Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman littoral states form the country's 1,770 kilometers of southern border.