Kurdish parties are not hiding their readiness to respond to Iranian attacks if Iran continues its missile strikes on their headquarters and refugee camps in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
Despite the ceasefire between the United States and Iran that has been in effect since April 8, attacks carried out by Iran and Iraqi factions using rockets and drones on those sites have not stopped.
According to information obtained by Alhurra from Iranian Kurdish opposition parties, their headquarters and camps in the Kurdistan Region have been subjected to more than 20 drone and missile attacks by Iran since the beginning of May. These attacks targeted locations in Erbil, Koya (Koysinjaq), and Sulaymaniyah.
On April 25, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Department of Media and Relations revealed in a statement that the region had been subjected to 809 missile and drone attacks between February 28 and April 20, resulting in the deaths of 20 civilians and the injury of 123 others.
These attacks included U.S. bases, Peshmerga positions, headquarters and camps of Iranian Kurdish opposition parties, populated areas, airports, and oil and gas fields in the region.
According to exclusive information obtained by Alhurra from leaders of Iranian Kurdish parties, their forces stationed in the Kurdistan Region have not initiated any military movements to cross into Iranian Kurdistan to confront the Iranian regime. They remain stationed in their bases and are currently focusing on the activities of their political and military wings inside Iran.
The same leaders confirm that cities in Iranian Kurdistan are witnessing special operations and intense daily attacks carried out by their wings targeting headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, its intelligence units, and Basij forces in those cities, alongside their grassroots activities and political efforts opposing the regime. The majority of their forces are present within Kurdish cities and villages inside Iran.
Among Iran’s main objectives in continuing its attacks on Iraqi Kurdistan, according to these leaders, is “to weaken the Kurdistan Region’s experience and ultimately eliminate it in the future, while at the same time working to eliminate the Iranian Kurdish opposition present in the region.” They emphasized that Iran’s upcoming policy will involve applying greater military pressure on the region to achieve these two goals.
Ali Ranjbar, a senior figure in the “Komala of the Revolutionary Toilers” party in Iranian Kurdistan, says that the continued “violations” by the Islamic Republic of the security agreement between Iraq and Iran — including missile and drone strikes — show that the regime in Tehran does not honor its commitments and seeks to limit the influence of opposition forces through military pressure.
“If the Islamic Republic continues its attacks on the headquarters of Kurdish parties, especially the camps of Kurdish political refugees, and if Iraqi authorities do not seriously intervene to prevent and stop these violations, then we will have the legitimate right to defend our people and our nation, and we will not relinquish it,” Ranjbar told Alhurra.
Ranjbar stressed respect for the stability of the Kurdistan Region and the security of its people, noting that any decision taken by them would take into account the region’s situation and stability.
Since 2023, these Iranian Kurdish parties have halted their military and political activities from within the Kurdistan Region of Iraq under a security agreement between Baghdad and Tehran, which stipulated the evacuation of their border bases, disarmament, and relocation of their members to camps far from the border under the supervision of Iraqi authorities and the United Nations.
However, the decision to halt military movements has not protected them from Iranian attacks targeting their headquarters and camps inside cities on an almost continuous basis.
Iraqi National Security Advisor Qasim al-Araji says that Baghdad is committed to the security agreement signed with Iran, noting that Iraqi authorities continuously receive Iranian protest notes regarding the movements of some of these groups.
In an interview with Alhurra, al-Araji affirmed the Iraqi government’s commitment to maintaining stable security relations with Tehran and enhancing security cooperation with countries in the region, stressing that Baghdad will not allow Iraqi territory to be used as a launch point to harm Iran.
The Iraqi-Iranian Higher Security Committee stemming from the agreement held a meeting on Monday in Baghdad, during which they emphasized “the importance of strengthening joint security coordination, tightening border control measures, and preventing any infiltration operations or movements by terrorist or armed groups that could threaten security and stability in both countries and the region,” according to an Iraqi statement issued by al-Araji’s office.
Iran accuses Iranian Kurdish opposition groups in northern Iraq of being involved in attacks inside Iran and serving the interests of Israel and Western countries opposed to Tehran — accusations these groups deny.
In February, about a week before the outbreak of the U.S.–Israeli war with Iran, six prominent armed Kurdish organizations announced the formation of a political-military alliance to overthrow the Islamic Republic regime, which has ruled the country since 1979, and to defend what they describe as “the Kurdish people’s right to self-determination.”
According to Western reports, there have been undisclosed contacts in recent months between representatives of these parties and U.S. officials, focusing on the future of the conflict with Iran and the role of local forces in weakening Tehran’s influence inside the country.
In March, reports also indicated that a coalition of Iranian Kurdish groups positioned along the Iran-Iraq border in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq was conducting training in preparation for a ground attack supported by the United States from the air.
U.S. President Donald Trump encouraged Iranian Kurdish forces in Iraq to attack Iran. Responding to the possibility of Iranian Kurdish forces entering Iran, Trump told Reuters on March 5: “I think it’s great that they want to do that, and I fully support them.”
“Our consideration, and the Kurdistan Region’s attempts to stay away from the war, have not spared the region from Iranian aggression and terrorism. Therefore, we must respond to Iran in kind when it continues its attacks on the Kurdistan Region, and on us, civilians, and our camps,” said Khalil Nadri, spokesperson for the Kurdistan Freedom Party. He added to Alhurra that “our decision is that we will not stand idly by if we are attacked.”
Nadri noted that the decision to move Kurdish party forces broadly toward Iranian Kurdistan is not tied to his party alone but depends on a decision by the Kurdish parties’ alliance.
Kurds make up approximately 10 percent of Iran’s population of 90 million, according to the latest World Bank estimates issued in 2024.
Kurds are spread across northwestern Iranian provinces in a strip extending from the far border with Turkey to the border region between Iran and Iraq. They are concentrated in West Azerbaijan province bordering Turkey, Kurdistan province along the border with Iraq’s Sulaymaniyah province, and Kermanshah near Iraq’s Diyala province.
“Any decision to undertake military movement into Iranian Kurdistan is a strategic matter that depends on local, regional, and international conditions,” said Mardin Zahedi, a leader in the Kurdistan Struggle Organization in Iran, speaking to Alhurra.
Although Zahedi stressed that Iranian violations and attacks on the Kurdistan Region and on the positions of Iranian Kurdish opposition parties increase the need to respond, he also emphasized that his party’s strategies are multi-faceted.
Zahedi does not see the response as purely military, but considers strengthening political, civil, and media struggle an effective tool for achieving radical change and thwarting the Iranian regime’s schemes, in order to minimize civilian casualties as much as possible.
The article is a translation of the original Arabic.
