Iranian opposition figures told Alhurra that Iran is building a security wall inside Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, running parallel to the Iranian border.
Khalil Kani Sinani, a senior figure in the Iranian Kurdish Kurdistan Freedom Party, said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is constructing what he described as a high-tech security barrier along the border, stretching a distance of about 600 kilometers from Mount Kelashin in the Sidakan district of Erbil province to the Garmian area south of Sulaymaniyah province.
According to officers from the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Peshmerga forces and Iraq’s border guards, who spoke to Alhurra on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media, Iran began moving troops and military equipment into the mountainous border area in late 2023 to start building the wall. The move followed the closure of bases belonging to Iranian Kurdish opposition groups in border areas, the disarmament of those groups and their relocation into cities inside the Kurdistan Region under a security agreement between Baghdad and Tehran. The officers said parts of the wall near completion are equipped with early-warning systems.
Sinani said the Iranian government views the Kurdistan Region as a constant security threat and that the wall reflects Tehran’s fear of Kurdish opposition parties.
To obtain details about the wall and the position of the Iraqi side responsible for border security, Alhurra contacted the media office of the Iraqi Border Forces Command but received no response.
Information obtained by Alhurra from the international Community Peacemaker Teams organization, which monitors movements and violations along the border between Iraq’s Kurdistan Region and Iran, indicates the Revolutionary Guard began building the wall after the end of the 12-day war between Iran and Israel. The wall reportedly extends from the Iranian border with Erbil province to the Garmian district and goes about two kilometers deep inside Kurdistan Region’s territory.
According to the organization, the wall is three meters high and includes advanced security alarm systems along its length. Construction has been completed on sections near the Siran Bin area, behind the villages of Bahi and Shiwajwezan, extending to the village of Maran near the Penjwen district border with Iran’s Kurdistan region. Work has also been completed on another section in the Bashdar area.
Sinani said the Revolutionary Guard has already established military bases within the Qandil mountain range inside Iraq, all of which are equipped with missiles and drones. He added that in recent months the Guard Corps has transferred additional missiles, drones and heavy weapons to Iranian bases along the border in preparation for a new round of fighting.
Community Peacemaker Teams estimates that there are 151 Iranian military bases inside Iraq’s Kurdistan Region. The organization said the wall and the military bases pose a threat to civilians living along the border and are contributing to the displacement of residents from their villages and farmland.
