Iran Steps Up Strikes on Iranian Kurdish Groups in Northern Iraq

Overview

• Iranian forces or Iran-aligned actors have carried out repeated strikes on bases and activity centres of Iranian Kurdish opposition groups in northern Iraq, and Kurdish parties reported recent fatalities with Komala saying 10 fighters were killed and other sources reporting similar losses.
• Leaders of Komala, PAK and other Iran-based Kurdish groups deny involvement in any US or Israeli-backed invasion plan and say they have not received weapons to mount a cross-border offensive.
• Iran’s foreign ministry has publicly accused the United States and Israel of plotting to use Kurdish actors against Tehran and warned it would respond to threats coming from Iraqi Kurdistan.
• Turkey has privately and publicly urged Iran to stop the strikes, told Washington to abandon a reported plan to deploy Kurdish fighters into Iran, and is moving legislation to allow former PKK members to return as part of a reintegration roadmap.
• The attacks raise risks of destabilising the Kurdistan Region of Iraq by drawing local parties into the wider US–Israel–Iran confrontation and increasing civilian and political pressure on Kurdish communities and Erbil’s authorities.