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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

PJAK warns Iranian Kurds against collaborating with IRGC amid escalating attacks

2026-08-13

[Rudaw] The Kurdish opposition group, Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), has warned Kurds in western Iran
Iran

...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate ~~Jews~~ ~~Zionists~~ Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
against collaborating with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), saying one man accused of helping Iranian forces kill four of its fighters near Mahabad in June has been "punished."

In a statement on Wednesday, YRK said an investigation into the June 28 deaths of four of its fighters near Mahabad concluded that local Kurdish collaborators had helped the IRGC locate the unit. It identified Omar Dehqan as one of those allegedly involved and said he had been "punished" by its fighters. PJAK said several others had been identified and would also be pursued. The claims could not be independently verified.

The group urged Kurds working with Iranian security forces to halt their cooperation with Tehran and "return to the ranks" of their people.

The warning comes as tensions between Tehran and Iranian Kurdish opposition groups escalate on both sides of the Iran-Iraq border.

Iran launched fresh missile and drone attacks on Komala and the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) near Erbil on Tuesday and Wednesday, part of a wider campaign that has intensified since the US-Iran war began on February 28.

PJAK maintains mobile guerrilla units inside the Kurdish areas of western and northwestern Iran, where its armed wing, the East Kurdistan Defense Units (YRK), has carried out operations and clashed with Iranian security forces.

PJAK’s own account of the June fighting shows its fighters operating around Mahabad, while profiles of those killed describe activity stretching from Maku to Marivan, Sardasht and Mahabad.

The June 28 clash near Mahabad killed four YRK fighters - Zarin Akbash, Parastoo Safaeipour, Khalil Chichek and Rasoul Yeganeh - according to PJAK. The group also claimed that IRGC personnel were killed or maimed.

The warning comes amid a broader increase in armed attacks on Iranian security personnel and local collaborators in Kurdish areas.

On June 29, two Kurdish members of the IRGC’s Basij militia, Khaled Khaledinia and Burhan Karisani, were rubbed out outside their homes in Paveh. Khaledinia had been accused by Kurdish activists of involvement in the ~~violent~~ mostly peaceful suppression of the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests.

The developments point to a potentially more confrontational phase inside Iranian Kurdistan, where Tehran has long relied on local informants, Basij members and auxiliary forces alongside the IRGC.

Around half a dozen individuals accused of collaborating with the Iranian security forces have been killed in recent weeks according to Iranian media and Kurdish opposition outlets. Kurdish activists and rights groups say such recruitment has been particularly important in areas where the state struggles to penetrate local communities.

At the same time, Iran has stepped up attacks on the Iraqi side of the border in the Kurdistan region. On Wednesday, missiles and drones struck areas in Alana Valley, around 90 kilometers northeast of Erbil, targeting Komala and KDPI positions. A day earlier, Iranian missiles hit Komala positions in the same area, lightly wounding two fighters.

Komala says more than 102 Iranian missiles and drones have targeted its positions since the war began, while nine of its members were killed in a strike on its headquarters near Sulaimani in mid-July.

The combination of intensified Iranian strikes against Kurdish opposition groups in Iraqi Kurdistan and renewed guerrilla activity inside western Iran raises the prospect of a widening confrontation.

PJAK’s latest statement suggests the group is also seeking to deter the local intelligence networks Tehran relies on to track its fighters - warning that Kurds accused of helping the IRGC could themselves become targets.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Kurdish dissident group claims attack on Iranian forces, citing killing of Kurdish family

2026-08-04

[Rudaw] The armed wing of the Kurdish opposition group Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK) on Monday grabbed credit for an attack on Iranian forces in Iran's Kurdish-majority western regions (Rojhelat), saying it was carried out in retaliation for the killing of three members of one family last week.

The East Kurdistan Defense Units (YRK), PJAK's armed wing, which calls its fighters the "Defenders of Kurdistan," said its forces targeted an Iranian military position near the village of Sianav, on the outskirts of Marivan, in Rojhelat's Kurdistan province, on Sunday.

"This operation was carried out in Dire Revenge for the massacre of the Tavakoli family in the city of Baneh by the Islamic Theocratic Republic," the statement read, referring to an area near Marivan where the family was killed by Iranian forces.

Mehdi Tavakoli, a prominent Kurdish photographer and cultural activist, was killed alongside his sister Somayyeh Tavakoli, a psychologist, and their mother Maryam Aslani, after Iranian security forces shot up their vehicle on the Baneh-Marivan road on July 26.

La Belle France-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) said forces from Tehran's intelligence ministry directly fired at the family's vehicle, killing all three immediately.

Meanwhile,
...back at the dirigible, Jack stuck the cigar in his mouth, stepped onto the gantry, and asked Got a light, Mac?

Von Schtinken stopped short, lowering the dagger and trying to control his features.

If you light that thing, Herr Armschtröng, he pointed out, his voice tense, we all die!...
Norway-based Hengaw Organization for Human Rights attributed the shooting to the Islamic Theocratic Republic Guard Corps' (IRGC) intelligence organization.

"We, as the Defenders of Kurdistan, declare that we will not leave such actions by the Islamic Theocratic Republic unanswered, and no attack against the values of the Kurdish people will go without a response," the YRK vowed.

For its part, Iran's army offered a different casualty toll, saying that one soldier, identified as Abolfazl Goudarzi, was killed and another maimed when its 328th Brigade base near Marivan came under attack at around 3 am local time on Sunday.

The army said the assailants used two explosive drones and rocket-propelled grenades.

Iranian state media, however, claimed that the vehicle's occupants were armed PJAK members killed during a confrontation. Both rights organizations rejected that account and identified the three as civilians.

Tavakoli managed the Kurdistan Photographers’ House and founded the Chaw Art House. He was also a former political prisoner and had previously been sentenced to two years in prison on national security charges.

The family was reportedly pressured by Iranian security authorities to publicly describe the deaths as the result of a road accident and warned that funeral ceremonies would be prohibited if they challenged the official narrative.

PJAK was established in the Qandil Mountains on April 4, 2003, by around 250 members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) who originally came from the Kurdish region in Iran.

Units of Kurdish opposition groups, including PJAK, based in the Kurdistan Region, had clashed with Iranian security forces in recent weeks in the west of the country, with both sides sustaining casualties.

Several individuals in the Kurdish areas have been killed in recent years after being labelled as collaborators by Kurdish opposition groups, with no group officially claiming responsibility.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Iran: Armed clashes continue across Rojhelat as fighting spreads to three provinces

2026-07-01

Armed Clashes Continue Across Rojhelat as Fighting Spreads to Three Provinces

Over the past week, several armed clashes have been reported between Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Eastern Kurdistan Defense Units (YRK) across different parts of Rojhelat… pic.twitter.com/JYbcvC5sxk
— Rojhelat Info (@RojhelatInfo_En) June 30, 2026

Text:

Armed Clashes Continue Across Rojhelat as Fighting Spreads to Three Provinces

Over the past week, several armed clashes have been reported between Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Eastern Kurdistan Defense Units (YRK) across different parts of Rojhelat (Iranian Kurdistan). The fighting has taken place in the areas around Marivan (Merîwan), Mahabad (Mehabad), and Paveh (Pawe), pointing to a growing escalation of military confrontations in the region.

According to statements and reports released by the parties involved, the IRGC claimed that four YRK fighters were killed during the recent clashes in the Şarstên area between Mahabad and Piranshahr (Pîranşar). As of the time of publication, the YRK command has neither confirmed nor denied the claim.

Meanwhile, local sources and media outlets close to Kurdish forces have reported that more than 10 Iranian military personnel were killed during the fighting over the past week.

More:
Eastern Kurdistan Defense Units (YRK) have confirmed that four of their fighters were killed

YRK Confirms Death of Four Fighters in Mahabad Clashes, Accuses IRGC of Escalating Attacks

The Eastern Kurdistan Defense Units (YRK) have confirmed that four of their fighters were killed during the recent clashes near Mahabad, while accusing Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard… pic.twitter.com/PyJHWc4O4f
— Rojhelat Info (@RojhelatInfo_En) June 30, 2026

Text:

YRK Confirms Death of Four Fighters in Mahabad Clashes, Accuses IRGC of Escalating Attacks

The Eastern Kurdistan Defense Units (YRK) have confirmed that four of their fighters were killed during the recent clashes near Mahabad, while accusing Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of escalating military operations against its forces and the Kurdish population.

In a statement released, YRK said it had consistently followed its "Third Line" policy during the recent regional conflict involving Iran. The group stated that it did not support any side and had not launched attacks against the Iranian government, even during what it described as one of Iran's most vulnerable periods.

According to the statement, after recent developments, the IRGC and Iranian security agencies significantly increased their military operations against YRK positions and used the situation to target the group's forces.

YRK said the military operation in the Gagesh area near Mahabad began on June 27 and involved a large number of IRGC forces using heavy weapons. The group claimed that the IRGC suffered casualties during the fighting.

More at the link

Kurdish group says four members killed in clashes with IRGC
[Rudaw] An Iranian Kurdish opposition group said on Tuesday that four of its fighters were killed in festivities with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Iran’s West Azerbaijan province, threatening to retaliate.

The East Kurdistan Defense Units (YRK), the armed wing of the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK), said in a statement that four of its fighters "resisted until the very last drop of their blood and were heroically martyred" during a clash with the IRGC in the suburbs of Mahabad in the Kurdish region of western Iran
Iran

[Rudaw] The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Tuesday that six members of a Kurdish opposition group were killed in festivities with security forces near Mahabad in Iran’s West Azerbaijan province.

The Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), one of the main Kurdish opposition groups, said on Saturday that its forces clashed with the IRGC in the Mahabad area on Friday, but did not provide further details.

"Following the entry of a team from hostile and separatist groups into the country’s northwestern borders to carry out sabotage and terrorist acts, fighters from the IRGC Ground Force’s Hamzeh Seyyed al-Shohada Headquarters tracked them through intelligence operations," said semi-official Mehr News Agency
...And if you can't believe Mehr News Agency who can you believe?...
The festivities come amid a spike in attacks targeting Iranian security forces in Kurdish areas. Two high-profile members of the IRGC-linked Basij were bumped off on Monday night in Paveh, Kermanshah province.

"The assailants were caught in an ambush by Hamzeh Headquarters forces and were completely dismantled," the Guards said in a statement published by state media.

The IRGC said the clash took place in the mountains between Mahabad and Piranshahr, with artillery support, adding that the six-member team was "completely destroyed." It said the bodies of four members of the group, along with weapons and equipment, were seized by IRGC forces.

State media published photos showing the bodies of three alleged Kurdish fighters dressed in traditional Kurdish baggy clothing, one of whom appeared to be a woman. The images also showed four firearms recovered from the scene, including three AK-47 rifles and one American-made M4 carbine.

PJAK has not confirmed whether any of its fighters were killed in the Mahabad festivities.

The group maintains dozens of mobile units in the rugged mountains of western Iran’s Kurdish areas, where fighters often move between remote positions to avoid direct festivities with the IRGC.

Other Kurdish opposition groups also maintain mobile units in the area.

The Paveh killings marked the third attack on Iranian security forces in the Kurdish region within a week, following separate incidents in Baneh, Kurdistan province, and Mahabad, West Azerbaijan province, that left several security personnel dead or maimed.

Two Kurdish Basij members killed by button men in western Iran
Two Kurdish members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC) Basij militia, including a local figure widely known for his role in suppressing the 2022 anti-government protests, were rubbed out at their homes by unidentified button men in Paveh, western Iran, late Monday.

The killing marked the third attack targeting Iranian security forces in the Kurdish region within a week, following separate assaults in Baneh, Kurdistan province, and Mahabad, West Azerbaijan province, that left several security personnel dead or maimed.

The two men were identified by the semi-official Mehr News Agency as Khaled Khaledinia and Burhan Karisani.

"Following what the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps described as a terrorist attack in Paveh, armed individuals shot up the front door of the homes of two members of the IRGC, resulting in the deaths of two local IRGC personnel," Mehr reported.

Khaledi was a well-known Basij member in the Kurdish cities of Paveh and Javanrud in Kermanshah province. Kurdish activists and those detained during the protest have accused him of playing a direct role in the crackdown on protests that erupted following the death of young Kurdish woman Zhina (Mahsa) Amini at the hands of Iran's morality police in Tehran in September 2022. The Woman Life Freedom demonstrations began in Kurdish areas before spreading across Iran.

The IRGC and Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence have long recruited local Kurds as informants and auxiliary security personnel, offering financial incentives in economically deprived areas, according to Kurdish activists and rights groups.

Local Kurdish media reported that a newly emerged Kurdish group calling itself "Sun of Hope" grabbed credit for the attack. Little is known about the group, which has not publicly disclosed its identity, leadership, or objectives.

The killings come at a sensitive time for authorities in Tehran, who have deployed thousands of additional security personnel across the country, including in Kurdish areas, amid fears of renewed unrest.

The crackdown in the city of Javanrud attracted international attention in late 2022 when the IRGC and its militia basij deployed heavy guns to the city to kill and maim protesters. The city was turned into a war zone during the crackdown with thousands of people detained many of whom were severely tortured.

Paveh and other Kurdish towns were heavily bombed during the six-week US-Israeli air campaign against Iran

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Kurdistan: Heavy fighting continues in Sharestan as military operation intensifies

2026-06-30

Follow up to this story from yesterday.

Heavy Fighting Continues in Sharestan as Military Operation Intensifies

Heavy fighting continued for a second day in the Sharestan (Şarstên) area on the Mahabad–Piranshahr road, as Iranian security forces maintained their military operation against the Eastern Kurdistan Defense… pic.twitter.com/xlV6GwrqDm
— Rojhelat Info (@RojhelatInfo_En) June 29, 2026

Text:

Heavy Fighting Continues in Sharestan as Military Operation Intensifies

Heavy fighting continued for a second day in the Sharestan (Şarstên) area on the Mahabad–Piranshahr road, as Iranian security forces maintained their military operation against the Eastern Kurdistan Defense Units (YRK), according to local sources.

Reports from the area say the region remains under tight military control, with clashes taking place around Şarstên, Doli Qeleweran, and Mamşal. Local sources claimed that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) fired more than 200 Katyusha rockets from positions near the Valizadeh mine toward the Hewareba area while reconnaissance drones were used to direct artillery strikes. They also claimed that one IRGC surveillance drone was shot down by YRK fighters using a long-range rifle.

More at the link

IRGC, Kurdish opposition group PJAK clash near Mahabad in western Iran

[Rudaw] The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and units of the Kurdish opposition group Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK) clashed near Mahabad in western Iran
Iran

...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate ~~Jews~~ ~~Zionists~~ Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
on Sunday, two days after another clash in the area left two members of the Iranian security forces dead and two others maimed.

In a short statement late Sunday, PJAK said the IRGC had launched an operation in the Gagosh area, south of Mahabad in West Azerbaijan province, triggering festivities between PJAK fighters and IRGC forces.

"The IRGC has started an operation in the village of Gagosh in the Mahabad region and, based on our information, the festivities have continued until now," PJAK said, adding that it had no further accurate information about the fighting.

The IRGC has not released any information regarding the reported festivities in Mahabad. The incident marks the second such confrontation within a week between Kurdish opposition groups and Iranian security forces.

The IRGC has been on high alert in Kurdish areas since late February, when the US and Israel carried out an extensive aerial bombing campaign targeting thousands of locations across Iran. IRGC bases in Kurdish areas were heavily bombed, mostly by Israeli warplanes and drones, weakening the force’s grip on the region.

The IRGC mobilized thousands of its Kurdish militia members and deployed them to border areas to stop an imminent attack by Kurdish opposition groups, which were poised to enter western Iran in the early days of the war before President Donald Trump
...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons...
halted the operation.

The festivities in Mahabad came two days after a checkpoint at the entrance of Baneh city in Kurdistan province was attacked by a unit of a Kurdish opposition group, killing two members of the security forces and wounding two others. No group has grabbed credit for the attack.

Since the beginning of the US-Iran war, the bases of Iranian Kurdish opposition groups in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq have come under hundreds of missile and drone attacks by the IRGC and its affiliated Iraqi militias. Despite a fragile ceasefire, the attacks have continued.

The IRGC maintains that Iraq and the Kurdistan Region must disarm or expel Iranian Kurdish opposition groups from their territory, and has reserved the right to attack them at will.

On Saturday, the body of a member of one of the Iranian Kurdish opposition groups was found stabbed to death in Erbil, prompting the party to accuse Tehran of being behind the killing.

Iran has carried out a series of liquidations in the Kurdistan Region over the past decade, killing several officials and members of opposition groups. The IRGC’s Ramazan Headquarters, responsible for the Kurdistan Region, and Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence carried out an liquidation campaign in the early 1990s that killed nearly 300 members of various Iranian Kurdish opposition groups, mostly in Sulaimani and Erbil provinces.

Gagosh, where the recent festivities have occurred, is a village in the Mangur-e Sharqi rural district of Khalifan in Mahabad county, West Azerbaijan province.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Three IRGC Members Killed in Clashes Near Baneh, Iran

2026-06-28

Three IRGC Members Killed in Clashes Near Baneh

Several armed clashes took place around the city of Baneh (Bane), where media outlets close to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) reported that at least three IRGC members were killed and five others were wounded.… pic.twitter.com/f7gF6sb6md
— Rojhelat Info (@RojhelatInfo_En) June 27, 2026

Text:

Three IRGC Members Killed in Clashes Near Baneh

Several armed clashes took place around the city of Baneh (Bane), where media outlets close to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) reported that at least three IRGC members were killed and five others were wounded.

According to local witnesses, one of the main clashes happened at the Baneh checkpoint on the Saqqez (Seqz) road, where gunfire continued for about 30 minutes.

More at the link

Rudaw adds:

At least two members of Iran’s security forces were killed and two others maimed when a checkpoint near the Kurdish city of Baneh in western Iran
Iran

A better photo of the PJAK fighters, courtesy of Snowy Thing:

My latest: Clashes Reported Between IRGC and Iranian Kurdish Opposition Group PJAK Near Banehhttps://t.co/ermwjs2o3n Sources: @HengawO @Afshin_Ismaeli ANF pic.twitter.com/anpSgzbQdo
— Wladimir van Wilgenburg (@vvanwilgenburg) June 27, 2026

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Business Standard: Donald Trump says Kurdish forces kept US weapons meant for Iranian protesters

2026-05-21

[TBSnews] Donald Trump says Kurdish forces kept US weapons meant for Iranian protesters, allegations Kurdish leaders categorically deny. Analysts say the president is scapegoating the groups to make up for his own policy failures

In early March, at the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran, Trump said it would be "wonderful" if Iranian Kurdish forces based across the border in Iraq launched attacks against the Islamic clerical regime in Tehran.

The following month, Trump told Fox News that the United States had tried to send weapons to protesters inside Iran through Kurdish intermediaries.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

"We sent guns to the protesters, a lot of them," Trump said. "And I think the Kurds took the guns."

In May, he said he was "very disappointed in the Kurds," adding that Washington had sent "some guns with ammunition, and they were supposed to be delivered, but they kept it."

DW has spoken to sources on condition of anonymity from several Kurdish factions in Iraq, Turkey and Syria, who all categorically denied receiving any weapons from the US.

IRANIAN KURDISH LEADERS DENY KEEPING US WEAPONS
In Iran, Kurdish organizations, including the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK), an armed militant group, have similarly rejected the White House's narrative.

The leadership of these groups views Trump's statements as both logistically impossible and politically damaging.

Fariba Mohammadi, Deputy Secretary-General of the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan, described the allegations as "psychological warfare."

She said such weapons have never reached Kurdish political parties or forces, emphasizing that the resurgence of these claims is best analyzed within the framework of political pressure in regional equations, rather than the reality on the ground.

Echoing this stance, Adib Vatandoust, a Central Committee member of Komala (Communist Party of Iran), said his organization has not received "a single bullet, nor even a negligible cent."

He characterized the alleged operation as a project serving the US and Israeli agendas rather than the genuine democratic interests of the Kurdish people.

Furthermore, Mustafa Mouloudi, Deputy Secretary-General of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI), highlighted that from a logistical standpoint, the accusations are unfeasible.

He pointed out that the heavily militarized borders, the pervasive presence of Iranian security forces, and the strict security agreements recently cemented between Tehran and Baghdad make such cross-border arms transfers virtually impossible.

WHO ARE THE KURDS?
Experts argue that Trump's rhetoric exposes his fundamental lack of understanding of Kurdish political society.

The US president refers to "the Kurds" as if they were a single, unified proxy force awaiting orders from Washington.

In reality, the Kurdish population of over 30 million people is spread across several countries — primarily Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Syria.

Each country has its own intricate political landscape, diverse ideological parties ranging from leftist to conservative, and unique regional dynamics.

Dr. Kamran Matin, Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of Sussex, highlighted the danger of this ignorance.

"Trump has a very limited understanding of both Kurdish society and politics. By blaming the Kurds collectively, while neglecting the multiplicity of Kurdish actors, parties, and regions, he redirects and inflames anti-war and anti-American public opinion against the Kurds, which could lead to dangerous attacks on them," he told DW.

WHY IS TRUMP MAKING THESE CLAIMS NOW?
Experts interviewed by DW say that Trump's disputed claims about weapons deliveries are a classic case of political deflection.

Kamal Chomani, Editor-in-Chief of the Middle East-focused The Amargi Outlet, draws a parallel to the "Golden Calf" in the Bible — a story about leadership failures and shifting blame.

Chomani argues that Trump, heavily influenced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, operated on the flawed, overly optimistic assumption that the Iranian regime was on the verge of imminent collapse. When that collapse failed to materialize, Trump needed a scapegoat.

"To cover up this failure, Trump uses the Kurds as a 'Golden Calf,'" Chomani explained.

"No weapons were sent to the Kurds to be transferred to Iranians inside the country; as we saw, even delivering Starlink satellite internet faced severe difficulties, let alone weapons," he added.

Matin echoed this assessment: "Trump tries to justify the failure of his war on Iran to achieve any of its key objectives by blaming the Kurds."

The US president also "tries to blame the Kurds for his failure to deliver on his promise to Iranian protesters that he would come to their aid when they were being massacred by the Iranian regime," he added.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Keep the Kurds Out of the Iran War

2026-04-22

[JOHNKASSNEWS] In early March 2026, mere days into the United States and Israel's latest war against Iran, various news outlets reported that President Donald Trump had engaged directly with Iraqi and Iranian Kurdish leaders to promote an uprising spearheaded by Iran's Kurdish minority against the Iranian regime. The White House denied these assertions. On March 6, a Reuters exclusive reported that Israel, which has its own contacts with Iranian Kurds, was backing their plans to seize Iranian territory. The next day, however, Trump declared that he had "ruled out" Kurdish participation in the war. "I don't want to see the Kurds going in…we don't want to make the war any more complex than it already is," he said.

Naturally, the picture of who is doing what to whom, the tactical options, and questions as to whether and to what extent the U.S. and Israel actually have the same strategic objectives in this war, including with respect to Kurds, are murky and subject to change. But why the concern about complexity when it comes to the Kurds? After all, along with some skeptical reporting and analysis highlighting the dangers of supporting a Kurdish rebellion in Iran‐in marked contrast to media cheerleading for the U.S. partnership, launched under President Barack Obama, with the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)‐there is a narrative in Western and Israeli outlets that Kurdish participation in the war would be crucial to success not only against the Iranian regime but for long-term Israeli security, and that Kurds can be deployed for precise war aims. From this perspective, it is almost as if "the Kurds" constitute an object of uniform density with immutable attributes and capabilities, to be manipulated at will.

Under the circumstances, it is perhaps a good time to look at some of those underlying complexities of the regional Kurdish issue, particularly characteristics that by and large have been only superficially covered or even ignored in Western media. What happens in the Iranian provinces of Kordestan, Kermanshah, and other Kurd-populated regions of northwestern Iran, known in Kurdish as Rojhelat, or the East‐just as the predominantly Kurdish areas in northern Syria are known as Rojava, or the West, among Kurds everywhere‐is unlikely to stay there. These dynamics could potentially have a profound effect on stability in Iran and across a vast swath of western Asia and the Middle East, with major implications for U.S. strategic interests in the region for decades to come.

First, some relatively recent history. For centuries, Kurds were a vital element of the neighboring Ottoman and Safavid empires. These two great Islamic, multiethnic states achieved stable bilateral relations in the 17th century following an era of geopolitical conflict and shrewd Ottoman diplomacy, ultimately establishing a border that delineates the territories of predominantly Sunni Turkey and Shia Iran even today. From then until the 20th century the great majority of Kurds lived under the Ottoman aegis.

But with the defeat and division of the Empire by the victorious Western powers at the end of the First World War‐often referred to in shorthand, derisively, as the "Sykes-Picot" process‐Ottoman Kurdish homelands were given over to what after the end of the postwar Mandate period became the new states of present day Iraq and Syria. Meanwhile, the new, modernized Turkish state, founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in successful resistance to postwar foreign encroachments, retained most of the Kurdish areas. These states, and Iran, to one degree or another attempted with only limited success to terraform their societies along Western-influenced, rigidly secularist and nationalist lines. The "Kemalists" of Turkey were perhaps the most enthusiastic in pursuit of wholesale ideological, revolutionary change, fearful that any recognition of Kurdish interests posed an existential threat to the Kemalist state-building project.

For their part, Kurds never fully accommodated to the postwar order. They began almost immediately to rebel against the new authorities, whose suppression of Kurdish institutions and identity persisted at varying levels of intensity and ruthlessness throughout the 20th century. While recently there has been considerable change and improvement in the situation of the Kurds‐notably the de facto end of the Kemalist ideological regime at the hands of the current Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the emergence of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) as a significant regional actor, and most recently in Syria with the agreements between Kurdish groups and interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa formally establishing Kurdish rights for the first time in that country‐profound challenges remain, particularly in present-day Iran.

Today, of all the subplots of the Iran war, the Kurds and their political, cultural, and religious aspirations present among the most far-reaching implications not only for Iran but also for Iraq, Syria, and Turkey, a NATO ally and an increasingly important regional power. These countries have sizable Kurdish populations‐often connected by tribes, conscious of their shared Kurdishness but highly competitive and fractious‐that extend across the modern borders of these states. Today, most of the world's 30 to 40 million Kurds live in and are citizens of Turkey, with roughly 8 million and 10 million in Iraq and Iran, respectively. There are another 2 million Kurds in Syria, mostly in the areas along the Turkish border.

Since the 1990–91 Gulf War, which brought new attention to the region, Kurds of various backgrounds have become more open and ardent in expressing their long-suppressed sense of Kurdish identity and nationalist sentiment, even when disagreeing among themselves as to what, precisely, some of the pillars of that identity are. Certainly, as reflected in Western media, there is a Western tutelary preference for what "the Kurds" ought to be, the legacy of a deeply-rooted and institutionalized interest among elites in spreading "democracy" and American influence in the Middle East. While reportage occasionally notes that there are different Kurdish organizations and entities across the region, far more frequently it leaves an impression of the Kurds as a sociocultural monolith, often represented by one or another variety of secular modernist organizations, conversant with Western languages, ways, and interests.

For example, during the decade before the second Trump Administration took office in 2025, the SDF was America's principal Syrian avatar in the counterterrorism war against ISIS. In fact, as I've written previously in these pages, the SDF is a cover name for the Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK (Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanê), a cultish, U.S.-designated terrorist group of Marxist origin. The PKK's command and sub-elements extend throughout the Kurdish regions, including a group in Iran known as Kurdistan Free Life Party (Partiya Jiyana Azad a Kurdistanê, or PJAK). The PKK has fought a separatist war principally but not exclusively against Turkish security forces and political organizations‐including Kurdish groups there and across the region‐for over 40 years, in clashes that have generated some 40,000 deaths. Despite the fact that the SDF oppressed its Kurdish political rivals and committed violence against deep-seated cultural values, including through kidnappings and the forcible induction of children into the PKK's ranks, it is still often identified in the media as "the Kurds," pure and simple, and retains its supporters in the U.S., the government-NGO industrial complex, the U.S. military, and in the Congress.

The media's routine, persistent elision of the true nature of the PKK/SDF and its preference for using romanticized terms to describe the organization have contributed to major, negative, and persistent consequences for American and Western policies in the region. By obfuscating unpleasant realities that, if more fully understood, probably would have served as a brake on the aspirations of SDF/PKK proponents, the media‐as is often the case in Washington‐willingly helped insulate opinion-shapers and policymakers from the implications of their decisions. American leadership thus often failed to think seriously about how U.S. support for a Marxist-origin terrorist group in a region of relatively conservative religious sensibilities risked alienating the locals, aiding militant recruitment efforts, complicating strategic relations with Ankara, and destabilizing the KRI.

The first Trump administration tried but failed to end Washington's partnership with the SDF, but has succeeded this time around, dashing the PKK's aspirations for a neo-Marxist statelet that, if unchecked, was very likely to have generated a regional conflict. Even so, SDF supporters on the Hill continue to fight a rear-guard action in the hope that, eventually, pressures emanating from the Iran war will shift the ground yet again in their favor.

Snip. Read the rest at the link.

Nicholas Spyridon Kass served in the U.S. government for 32 years at the White House/National Security Council, State Department, CIA, and most recently (until January 2026) as the acting chairman of the National Intelligence Council in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). He can be found on X and LinkedIn.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Kurdish Iranian opposition groups deny claims of receiving weapons from US

2026-04-06

[Rudaw] Several Iranian Kurdish opposition groups on Sunday denied reports that the United States had armed them during the country’s nationwide anti-government protests, as threats from US President Donald Trump
...The man who was so stupid he beat fourteen professional politicians, a former tech CEO, and a brain surgeon for the Republican nomination in 2016, then beat The Smartest Woman in the World in the general election. Then he beat Kamala while dodging bullets...
against Iran Iran

continue in the ongoing war.

Mohammed Nazif Qaderi, a bigwig from the opposition Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), told Rudaw that "those statements made are baseless and we haven't received any weapons. The weapons we have are from 47 years ago, and we obtained them on the Islamic Theocratic Republic's battlefield, and we bought some from the market."

"Our policy is not to make demonstrations ~~violent~~ mostly peaceful and use harsh methods, rather we believe we must make our demands in a peaceful and civil manner without weapons," Qaderi said.

The denial comes after Fox News correspondent Trey Yingst said that, following the country’s deadly anti-government protests in January, "President Trump told me the United States sent guns to the Iranian protestors. He told me we sent them a lot of guns. We sent them to the Kurds. And the president says he thinks the Kurds kept them. He went on to say we sent guns to the protestors, a lot of them."

Kako Aliyar, a member of the leadership committee of the Kurdish Iranian opposition party Komala, told Rudaw that "as our own party, no weapons have come to us and we haven't received anything, we're not even aware of the matter. Previously, this matter was never discussed, and we haven't talked to anyone about it."

The war between the US and Israel on one side and Iran on the other, which began on February 28, continues, with Iran restricting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, affecting the global economy. Trump on Sunday wrote on his Truth Social platform that the US could target Iranian power plants and bridges. "Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell," he said. In a follow-up post, he added, "Tuesday, 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time!" without providing further details.

Ahead of the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran, Kurdish opposition parties announced a new political alliance to unify efforts against the Islamic Theocratic Republic and advance Kurdish self-determination.

In early March, the parties similarly rejected reports by some international media outlets claiming their forces had crossed into Iran to fight Tehran. Around the same time, a Fox News report cited an unnamed US official alleging that "thousands of Iraqi Kurds" had launched a ground offensive into Iran.

At the time, Trump said that a potential ground offensive by Kurdish forces against the Iranian government would be a "wonderful" idea.

Amjad Hussein Panahi, head of communications for Komala of the Toilers of Kurdistan, also told Rudaw, "We assure you we haven't received a single bullet or weapon from any country or place, and we're not aware of the existence of such a thing; what we have is our own."

Hamno Naqshbandi, a member of the general command of the Kurdistan National Army affiliated with the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), said that "Donald Trump's message is unclear to us. What is there is that we as our army have in no way received weapons from the US or any other country, not even a single bullet."

The alliance brought together six Kurdish parties: the KDPI, the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK), the PAK, the Komala of the Toilers of Kurdistan, the Organization of Iranian Kurdistan Struggle (Khabat), and the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan.

Link

The Grand Turk

Turkey Prepares: Why Erdogan Isn't Getting Involved in War

2026-03-17

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
by Kamran Gasanov

[REGNUM] The conflict in the Middle East is expanding. In its early days, Iranian missiles and drone strikes primarily targeted Arab countries hosting US bases, but the war quickly spread to Turkey.

Despite three recorded instances in which the Turks had to shoot down Iranian missiles, presumably over their territory, Ankara is in no hurry to respond, although it allows itself to engage in threatening rhetoric.

BROTHERLY TIES
The first incident occurred in early March. The Turkish Ministry of Defense reported that NATO air defense and missile defense forces intercepted a ballistic missile over Gaziantep province. The debris fell in an empty field; no one was injured.

At first, it was claimed that the strike never occurred. Then doubts arose that the final target was on Turkish territory. But even after the "landing" had been established, the Republic's Ministry of Foreign Affairs was in no hurry to escalate the situation.

After speaking with Iranian diplomats, Minister Hakan Fidan stated the following: "If it was a missile that went off course, that's one thing." He then advised the Iranians "not to embark on an adventure."

Four days later, Turkey detected and shot down a second missile fired from Iran. It then became clear that the US bases were being targeted.

The rhetoric began to escalate. "The necessary warnings have been sent to Iran," Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said after an emergency government meeting.

Ankara, according to Erdoğan, had already warned Tehran several times, but it continued its "provocative steps." The Turkish president had made every effort to demonstrate his interest in avoiding his country's involvement in the war, and therefore softened his language at the end of his statement, calling on Iran not to tarnish "the millennia-old neighborly and fraternal ties."

Telephone conversations took place between the presidents and foreign ministers. Erdoğan told Masoud Pezeshkian that his country had suffered but was not a party to the conflict. Fidan called on his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, to take action.

While Iran made no secret of its intentions in the Persian Gulf—to strike US bases and those assisting Washington—here, Tehran refused to take responsibility. Araghchi told Fidan that the missiles aimed at the Incirlik air base were not launched by Iran.

Be that as it may, on March 13, a third missile was destroyed in Turkish airspace.

On the one hand, when missile launches against Turkey become a pattern, Ankara needs to react. After the third incident, few doubts remain that the Iranians were behind it. On the other hand, there may be "mitigating circumstances" here, too.

Sources of the Turkiye newspaper believe that after the start of the US and Israeli aggression against Iran and the liquidation of part of the political and military command of the Islamic Republic, a so-called “mosaic defense” regime was launched there.

According to it, every general on the ground makes independent decisions. Furthermore, those made earlier automatically took effect.

That is, the Iranian Ministry of Defense does not coordinate every step of its military; they act according to pre-war instructions, where Türkiye, as a NATO country with US bases on its territory, is also designated as a target.

A STREAM OF INSULTS
On the other hand, Ankara is aware that its “friends” from NATO are trying in every possible way to draw it into the conflict.

The intelligence services told journalists that the country would adhere to a course of containment and a cold-blooded approach—Ankara “will not participate in any scenario that would lead to being drawn into war.”

Turkish military expert Cihat Yayci is still not at all certain that the missiles were launched on orders from official Tehran.

He believes such serious decisions are made at the highest level, and since Iran's political leadership was temporarily decapitated, the Mossad and the CIA have found openings to fill the gap. Yayci is inclined to believe that the attacks could be carried out from Iranian territory by troops paid by Israeli and American intelligence.

The Turkish President does not approve of the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and – contrary to NATO’s line – expressed condolences and “deep sadness” over the death of the spiritual leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

On the day of the third missile launch, Fidan, in a conversation with his German counterpart, Johann Wadephul, spoke out against fueling civil war in Iran and "ethnic and religious conflicts." Turkey "will not allow this," the minister emphasized.

He added that the US and Israeli attack on Iran occurred “without any reason” and is illegal, but Iran’s strikes on its neighbors are also unlawful.

In almost all statements, Turkey tries to use generalities and avoid mentioning Donald Trump. However, insults are sparing for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu : the speaker of the Turkish parliament, Numan Kurtulmuş, compared him to Hitler.

Unlike German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who says that Germany is “on the same side as the United States” and that the ayatollah regime is illegitimate, and the EU leadership, which is increasing sanctions against Iran, Ankara is unequivocally in favor of a ceasefire.

AVOIDING CONFLICT WITH TRUMP
Europe also has a lot to lose—no less than Turkey. Oil and gas prices have already created the risk of stagflation for the EU.

But Ankara is demonstrating that it has more sovereignty – Erdogan has risked conducting operations against Kurdish militias against the will of Washington.

Trump is a temporary friend of Ankara. Erdogan is pleased to hear praise, recognition of his influence in Syria and his role as a mediator in Gaza. But is this worth the long-term risks lurking behind the chaos in Iran?

Millions of Iranian refugees in addition to millions of Syrians. The possibility of a "second Afghanistan" emerging along a 560-kilometer-long border (after Syria, Turkey shares its longest border with Iran).

A failed state always poses the threat of terrorists. Residents of Ankara and Istanbul experienced ISIS attacks firsthand during the Syrian civil war, where Erdoğan supported Bashar al-Assad's opponents.

Iranian Kurdistan is a particular headache. Trump tried to use the Kurds to launch a campaign against Tehran, but the fighters of the Kurdistan Free Life Party are in no hurry to expose themselves.

Ankara is closely monitoring the activities of the Iranian Kurdish party. A statement from the Turkish Ministry of Defense, published by Clash Report, stated that Ankara "reserves the right to respond to hostile actions." The ministry is clearly hinting at a military operation.

The Turkish armed forces have similar experience in Iraq and Syria. The problem is that if Washington wants to push the Kurds against Tehran, Turkey's intervention would effectively ignite a conflict between Trump and Erdoğan. Clashes between Turkish forces and Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) during Operation Peace Spring in Syria outraged Trump, prompting him to threaten to "destroy the Turkish economy."

The risk of the emergence of a new Kurdish state entity, capable of triggering a "domino effect" in Turkey itself, is hardly offset by the prospect of creating a "South Azerbaijan" with a 30 million Turkic-speaking population.

Trump is bogged down in Iran. He needs a combined attack from separatists (starting with the Kurds) and neighboring countries, including Turkey. Such a coalition could possibly inflict serious damage on the Islamic Republic's defenses.

However, there is no guarantee that Iran will collapse.

The US military operation will end sooner or later, but the Arabs and Turks will still have to live next door to the Persians. No one wants to make enemies for years to come. Given the likelihood of growing Kurdish separatism, Ankara will think twice before responding to the missiles.

Even if we imagine a scenario of a complete victory by a united coalition of the US, Turkey, and the Arab League over Iran—provided Washington does not encourage Kurdish separatism—Ankara is asking: what awaits the region afterward?

There are many risks and unknown variables here. What is certain is that Israel will strengthen its position.

Turkey, according to former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, is the next target. Iran has been diverting the Jewish state's forces and resources, and after its defeat, there will be no one to do so.

Moreover, the new Iran could become entirely pro-American, and Türkiye will no longer be able to rely on it in the event of disagreements with NATO.

Finally, the success of the operation to dismantle Iranian sovereignty will create another precedent, and Turkey, with its numerous disagreements with the West, will have something to think about.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

'Another Man's War': Why the Kurds Quickly Changed Their Minds About Fighting Iran

2026-03-12

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
by Leonid Tsukanov

[REGNUM] The United States is looking for ways to approach Iran "on the ground" without using its own troops.

Some time ago, Washington tried to rely on the Coalition of Political Forces of Iranian Kurdistan (CPSIK), an alliance of opposition Kurdish parties and movements that declared its goal to overthrow the current Iranian government.

However, the gamble didn't pay off. Instead of "thousands of Kurdish fighters crossing the Iranian border with weapons in hand," Washington received only underground fighters squabbling among themselves.

However, despite the White House's disappointment with the Kurds' decision, the United States still has aces up its sleeve. And they can implement at least one ambitious plan without outside assistance.

150 THOUSAND BAYONETS
The Coalition of Iranian Kurdistan Political Forces (KPIFC) was formed in late February 2026—before the official start of hostilities—by five Kurdish political parties banned in Iran. It included the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, the Free Life Party in Kurdistan, the Kurdistan Freedom Party, the Komala organization, and the nationalist Habat movement.

The formal leader of the KPSIK was Mustafa Hijri, the head of the "Democrats" —he was the one who pioneered the creation of the "Kurdish coalition." Although his party is smaller and less cohesive than some other forces (particularly Komala), Hijri has proven himself a skilled and flexible politician, capable of quickly finding common ground with the powers that be.

Moreover, the leader of the "democrats" had established close ties with the elites of Iraqi Kurdistan, an autonomous region within Iraq that could provide a platform for an attack on Iran.

Hijri's rise among other "atamans" is evidenced by his public conversation with Donald Trump, during which the US president received assurances of the "determination of the Kurdish people." Another senior Democrat, Hassan Sharafi, later stated that opposition forces had prepared "all possible war scenarios" and were ready to assume a leading role within Iran.

According to outside observers, the Kurdish underground could have fielded up to 150,000 men against Tehran—assuming the offensive was supported by the Iraqi authorities (approximately 80,000 fighters) and Kurdish groups that had declared neutrality (approximately 15,000). However, even in the worst-case scenario, the KPSIK hoped to assemble a "liberation army" of at least 50,000 men under its banner.

In theory, such a contingent is sufficient to destabilize the entire Iranian border region and provoke a surge in separatist sentiment in Iran's ethnically diverse provinces.

DISAGREEMENTS AMONG THE LEADERS
However, despite the formation of a coalition, the Kurds quickly changed their minds about fighting. And a day after the IRGC's preemptive strikes on Iraqi Kurdistan, they began competing with each other to claim that they had never had any plans against Iran and had no intention of getting drawn into "someone else's war."

This behavior is primarily due to the loss of surprise. An attempt to deploy advance groups of underground fighters into Iran to identify gaps in the enemy's defenses and prepare a bridgehead was thwarted by premature media hype. Iranian law enforcement officers met the saboteurs with fire, and they were forced to withdraw.

Naturally, after the border incident, Tehran dramatically increased the combat readiness of its border units and introduced additional counterintelligence measures, meaning that any attempt to move large forces across the border (even with air support) would have turned into a massacre at the approaches. The difficult terrain in the Zagros Mountains region, which Tehran's adversaries had planned to exploit for covert troop movements, turned into an obstacle for themselves.

The failure of the sabotage operation dealt a severe blow to the cohesion of the KPSIK leaders.

In particular, tensions have escalated between the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan and the leftist Komala, which accused each other of secretly selling intelligence to Iran. Old grievances have also been revived—for example, the failure of the "revolutionary surge" in January 2026, when protests engulfed the republic and the underground had a chance to briefly gain a foothold in Iran.

Behind-the-scenes attacks also began against Iraqi Kurdistan President Nechirvan Barzani, who, despite allowing the KPSIK into his autonomous region, allegedly secretly provided the Iranians with the coordinates of key Kurdish headquarters, thereby causing "irreparable damage" to the insurgency's combat capability. The attacks intensified following a telephone conversation between Barzani and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on March 5, during which Tehran received further assurances of neutrality from Erbil.

Finally, the Kurds have no serious reason to trust the United States.

The United States does not promise them their own state on Iranian territory, but at best, broad autonomy (similar to Iraq’s) in some kind of “new and just Iran.”

Without specifying who will lead the “renewed Iran” and what rights minorities will have.

It also doesn't speak in the White House's favor that potential participants in the "liberation campaign" remember well how the Americans effectively surrendered Kurdish autonomy in Syria to the new Syrian authorities, forcing many field commanders to flee to other countries to escape purges and persecution.

For this reason, the activities of the KPSIK are currently limited to public criticism of Tehran and accusations of war crimes against local authorities.

DIVERSIONARY TACTIC
Conducting a ground operation with the involvement of Kurdish forces, however, was not an end in itself for the United States.

The involvement of the rebels was seen as a secondary, diversionary maneuver—to tie down Iranian troops in the northwest of the republic and give the United States the opportunity to intervene selectively.

In reality, the US is targeting the remaining Iranian highly enriched uranium (HEU), of which Tehran had already accumulated over 400 kg at its nuclear facilities before the June war, and which is theoretically enough to build at least a dozen warheads. Washington, having failed to obtain it diplomatically over the past year, has therefore decided to seize it by force.

The exact location of the "ayatollahs' stash," as the Americans jokingly refer to Iran's HEU stockpiles, has been unknown for six months—ever since the Iranian leadership ordered the stockpiles to be moved "to a safe place" after the first clashes with Israel.

However, the United States suspects that the HEU is being stored in heavily fortified underground storage facilities beneath the nuclear facility in Isfahan. According to satellite images published by the Pentagon, systematic strikes on the facility revealed a "small opening" in a mountain within the facility, which presumably leads to the storage facilities.

Naturally, removing nearly half a ton of uranium from foreign territory is no trivial task, so the White House and the Pentagon jointly explored various options for neutralizing the cargo, including diluting it to a safe level on-site. However, such a scenario would have required the involvement of specialist operators and IAEA experts, which would have reduced the mission's mobility.

The United States could only take these "conditionally civilian" specialists with them if they were able to completely suppress resistance in the area. Despite intensive strikes, they have not yet succeeded in doing so.

However, American commandos are in no hurry to make a one-man dash into the heart of Iran to steal uranium.

The recent failed Israeli airborne landing in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley demonstrated that even with air superiority and the element of surprise, an operation can fail due to fatal accidents. For example, due to an unexpected encounter between commandos and a local resident who turned out to be a Hezbollah supporter and promptly called for backup.

And while in Israel's case the issue at stake was the exhumation and return to his homeland of the body of pilot Ron Arad, who was captured by the Lebanese in 1986, the stakes for the United States were an order of magnitude higher.

The Pentagon has no idea how well the storage facilities are fortified, what kind of security system they have, whether an additional garrison is stationed at the warehouses, or whether local security has the capability to blow up the storage facility in case of danger and “bury” the HEU along with the uninvited guests for the time being.

Moreover, the Americans will only be able to access Iranian uranium once. Failure will not only result in the cargo disappearing from Western sight again, but will also, with a high degree of probability, provoke a political decision by Tehran to develop a full-fledged nuclear arsenal.

Such a turn would be a point of no return for the Middle East.

OIL ISLAND
However, the United States, for now, appears willing to put the issue of preparing an operation to eliminate Iranian HEU on the back burner—especially since the likelihood of the Iranians themselves moving such a valuable cargo anywhere outside of Isfahan, amid intense military action, seems negligible to Washington strategists.

At least for now, Tehran is convinced of the safety of the lifting facilities in Isfahan. Hence the White House's relatively relaxed attitude toward the Kurdish leaders' hesitation, and Trump's willingness to refrain from pushing too hard for a ground operation involving the Iranian opposition.

However, the US and Israel have a plan B, which they can implement on their own.

The issue concerns the seizure of Kharg Island, located in the Persian Gulf. It houses floating-roof oil storage tanks—a strategically important terminal that accounts for approximately 90% of Iran's crude oil exports.

This is apparently intended to be done by the elite 82nd Airborne Division of the US Army, which previously interrupted scheduled exercises and began preparations for deployment “in the Pentagon’s operational zone of interest.”

Capturing and holding such a vital energy hub—even temporarily—will give Washington and its allies leverage. Not only against Iran, whose economy is heavily dependent on the gray market for petroleum products, but also against China, a key buyer of Iranian crude.

And, unlike Isfahan, the oil terminal is clearly visible from satellites. This means the US has a precise understanding of its security level, its vulnerabilities, and Tehran's potential response to an incident.

True, here too, the United States is trying to hold off for now, hoping that the cumulative effect of strikes on Iranian military infrastructure will sooner or later manifest itself and Tehran's resistance will begin to wane.

This will allow them not only to act more assertively, but also to draw hesitant Kurds into the game, while preserving their own military resources intact.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Iran pivots to internal crackdown on dissent as ceasefire ends war with Israel

2025-06-26

[IsraelTimes] Activists say the now-weakened regime in Tehran has put paramilitary police on guard for internal unrest; ‘We are being extremely cautious right now’

Iranian authorities are pivoting from a ceasefire with Israel to intensifying an internal security crackdown across the country with mass arrests, executions and military deployments, particularly in the restive Kurdish region, officials and activists said.

Within days of Israel’s ~~Arclight~~ airstrike
<del>Arclight</del> airstrike

...KABOOM!...
s beginning on June 13, Iranian security forces started a campaign of widespread arrests accompanied by an intensified street presence based around checkpoints, the officials and activists said.

Some in Israel and exiled opposition groups had hoped the military campaign, which targeted Revolutionary Guards and internal security forces as well as nuclear sites, would spark a mass uprising and the overthrow of the Islamic Theocratic RepublicWhile Rooters has spoken to numerous Iranians angry at the government for policies they believed had led to the Israeli attack, there has been no sign yet of any significant protests against the authorities.

However,
alcohol has never solved anybody's problems. But then, neither has milk...
one senior Iranian security official and two other bigwigs briefed on internal security issues said the authorities were focused on the threat of possible internal unrest, particularly in Kurdish areas.

Revolutionary Guard and Basij paramilitary units were put on alert and internal security was now the primary focus, said the security bigshot.

The official said authorities were worried about Israeli agents, ethnic separatists, and the People’s Mujahideen Organization, an exiled opposition group that has previously staged attacks inside Iran.

Activists within the country are lying low.

"We are being extremely cautious right now because there’s a real concern the regime might use this situation as a pretext," said a rights activist in Tehran who was incarcerated
Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit!
during mass protests in 2022.

Iranian rights group HRNA said on Monday it had recorded arrests of 705 people on political or security charges since the start of the war.

Many of those arrested have been accused of spying for Israel, HRNA said. Iranian state media reported three were executed on Tuesday in Urmia, near the Ottoman Turkish border, and the Iranian-Kurdish rights group Hengaw said they were all Kurdish.

Iran’s Foreign and Interior Ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

CHECKPOINTS AND SEARCHES
One of the officials briefed on security said troops had been deployed to the borders of Pakistain, Iraq and Azerbaijan to stop infiltration by what the official called terrorists. The other official briefed on security acknowledged that hundreds had been arrested.

Iran’s mostly Sunni Moslem Kurdish and Baluch minorities have long been a source of opposition to the Islamic Theocratic Republic, chafing against rule from the Persian-speaking, Shi’ite government in Tehran.

The three main Iranian Kurdish separatist factions based in Iraqi Kurdistan said some of their activists and fighters had been arrested and described widespread military and security movements by Iranian authorities.

Ribaz Khalili from the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI) said Revolutionary Guards units had deployed in schools in Iran’s Kurdish provinces within three days of Israel’s strikes beginning and gone house-to-house for suspects and arms.

The Guards had taken protective measures too, evacuating an industrial zone near their barracks and closing major roads for their own use in bringing reinforcements to Kermanshah and Sanandaj, two major cities in the Kurdish region.

A cadre from the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK), who gave her nom de guerre of Fatma Ahmed, said the party had counted more than 500 opposition members being detained in Kurdish provinces since the airstrikes began.

Ahmed and an official from the Kurdish Komala party, who spoke on condition of anonymity, both described checkpoints being set up across Kurdish areas with physical searches of people as well as checks of their phones and documents.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

PJAK kills IRGC member in Kurdistan province

2024-10-25

[Rudaw] At least one soldier of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was killed this week in a clash with the opposition Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK)

…one of several leftwing guerrilla groups aligned with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Current size is estimated at 1,000-3,000 members, half women. The head of the group is Abdul Rahman Haji Ahmadi , who lives in Germany…

in northwestern Iran.

The clash took place in a mountainous area of Kurdistan province, between the towns of Kamyaran and A. Fighting broke out when PJAK members were passing through the area and were "surrounded and ambushed" by Iranian forces, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network reported on Thursday.

The IRGC member who was killed has been identified as Mohammed Ahmadpour.

"Ahmadpour of the security forces sacrificed his life for the revolution in the conflict with the miscreants and anti-revolutionary group of PJAK to defend the security in the public area," said the semi-official Tasnim news agency, which is affiliated with the IRGC.

Two other IRGC members were maimed in the skirmish, according to Hengaw Organization for Human Rights.

PJAK was established in 2003 and is considered the Iranian wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), but claims its links are only ideological. Both groups have bases in the Kurdistan Region from where they carry out attacks on Ottoman Turkish and Iranian security forces.

After its establishment in the Qandil Mountains - an area on the Kurdistan Region’s border with Iran
Iran

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