Iran has summoned Iraq’s ambassador in protest at the presence of what it brands “terrorist” Kurdish groups at an official ceremony.

The diplomatic spat exposes tensions between the neighbouring states despite a security deal both signed last month over Kurdish attacks on Iran.

On Saturday Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani said Baghdad’s envoy to Tehran had been summoned to “strongly protest” over the presence of Iranian-Kurdish opposition groups at the event on Thursday in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.

The ceremony had been held to inaugurate a cultural center in tribute to the late Kurdish leader Mustafa Barzani.

The spokesman said “movements of some terrorist groups” in the Iraqi Kurdish region is “contrary to the recent security agreement between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Iraq”.

Although the groups were not named, Iran may be referring to Kurdish armed groups such as the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan.

The party advocates the overthrow of Iran's regime and the separation of Kurdistan's northwestern province from Iran.

A deal with Iraq was signed last month in Baghdad by Iran's security chief Ali Shamkhani that aimed to end "completely and fundamentally" Kurdish attacks on Iran and prevent the use of Iraqi borders as a threat.

Last year, Iran's Revolutionary Guards launched missile and drone attacks against Iranian Kurdish groups based in northern Iraq, accusing them of fomenting protests that were sparked by the death of an Iranian Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, in the custody of the morality police.

Kurdish parties − including Komala and the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) − generally favor Kurdish autonomy within a federal Iran. However, Pejak (the Free Life Party of Kurdistan), an affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, formed in Turkey but also based in northern Iraq, wants a unified, independent Kurdistan uniting Kurds in Syria, Iraq, Turkey, and Iran.