Iraq plans to beef up border security by deploying another 13,000 guards in a bid to prevent the entry of armed groups, an official Iraqi newspaper reported Tuesday, DPA reported.
"The current number of border guards exceeds 43,000. There is a plan to raise that number to 56,000," Deputy Interior Minister Ahmed al-Khafagi told the Baghdad daily al-Sabah.
Al-Khafagi said 800 guard posts would be built along the border in a bid to stop fighters infiltrating Iraq from neighbouring countries.
"Consolidating a lasting peace requires investigating current and possible future problems with each country," al-Khafagi said.
"The current troubles with Iran require a search for ways to secure that border. This is the case with every neighboring country," he said.
Iranian troops last month took up positions around at least one oil well on Iraq's southern border with Iran, briefly raising the Iranian flag.
The troops subsequently withdrew to roughly 50 metres from the well and removed the flag, following diplomatic protests from Iraq.
Iran and Iraq fought a long and costly war between 1980-1988 that left millions dead.
Since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Shiite and Kurdish- dominated government in Baghdad has established closer relations with Tehran, a rapprochement regarded with suspicion by many Sunni Iraqi politicians.
Following August and October bombings in Baghdad that together left more than 255 dead, Iraq accused Syria of not doing enough to stop Iraqi ex-Baathists in Damascus from orchestrating attacks in Iraq.