Kurdish militants open front against Iran’s Revolutionary Guards

The armed wing of the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), based in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region, has officially announced the commencement of operations targeting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Iranian soil.

Jwansher Rafati, a spokesperson for the group, told reporters that the attacks are focused on western Iranian provinces, including Ilam, Kermanshah, and Firuzkuh, and are intended to “protect protesters” from severe government crackdowns. Rafati also noted that the militants are providing financial assistance to demonstrators, Caliber.Az reports, citing foreign media.

The Kurdistan Freedom Party is among several Kurdish organizations that have voiced support for the recent anti-regime protests in Iran and condemned the authorities’ use of force.

This marks the first formal acknowledgment of Kurdish armed engagement against Iranian forces since the outbreak of widespread protests, a development likely to further escalate tensions within Iran and across the broader region. Tehran has previously accused Kurdish groups of seeking to destabilize the country, though no official evidence has been presented linking them to foreign actors.

Iranian media has previously accused the group and other Kurdish factions of attacking security forces.

Iranian activists say more than 2,797 people were killed in the government’s crackdown on a recent wave of nationwide protests.

A handful of Iranian Kurdish dissident or separatist groups — some with armed wings — have long found a safe haven in northern Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdish region, where their presence has been a point of friction between the central government in Baghdad and Tehran.

Iran has occasionally launched strikes on the groups’ sites in Iraq but has not done so since the outbreak of the recent protests.

By Vafa Guliyeva