"There is a lot more work to be done, but the two countries have agreed to put aside their differences to eliminate the Kurdish terrorist threat," an official said.

Officials said the Iranian Army and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps exploited Turkish cooperation to invade northern Iraq in late June. They said IRGC operations have intensified near the Kandil mountains in Iraq's Kurdistan region.

The pro-Kurdish Firat News Agency has reported that the Turkish Army deployed 20 U.S.-origin main battle tanks, unmanned aerial vehicles and 300 commandos in Iran to help battle Kurdish fighters, Middle East Newsline reported. Earlier, Firat reported the death of five Iranian soldiers in a battle in Kandil on July 16.

In contrast, Teheran said its IRGC-aligned Basij forces trapped and killed 50 Kurdish insurgents in Iran's West Azerbaijan province. Iran has denied invading northern Iraq.

"The PJAK terrorists were killed by the local Kurdish Basij forces," the Iranian Army said. "The bodies of the terrorists were left in the area."

"We again demand that the Iranian government stop its continuing shelling because this is not constructive for Iraq-Iranian relations and will damages ties," Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said on July 27. "The shelling has continued for five years, but this time the duration has been longer than previous instances."

At the same time, the Turkish Army has launched an operation against the PKK along the Iraqi border. Turkish media reports asserted that PKK outposts in the Kandil mountains were shelled in wake of a PKK ambush in which 13 Turkish soldiers were killed on July 14.

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