Iran says it hit Kurdish forces in Iraq, as some groups plan to join fight against Tehran

Kurdish dissident groups say the US has asked them to support its efforts against the regime; Iran warns it will not tolerate ‘separatist groups’ and claims it damaged headquarters

Iran said Thursday it had attacked Kurdish forces in Iraqi Kurdistan to prevent them from launching an assault on its western borders, amid reports that such an attack was coming or had even begun.

The Iranian claim came as Kurdish officials told The Associated Press and The Washington Post that US President Donald Trump had personally spoken to their leaders in recent days and requested their assistance in the campaign. AP reported that Kurdish Iranian dissident groups based in northern Iraq were preparing for a potential cross-border military operation, and that the US has asked Iraqi Kurds to support them.

Iran’s intelligence ministry said the country targeted posts of “separatist groups” that intended to enter through western borders, adding that they had sustained heavy losses.

The ministry statement, carried by state media, said Iranian forces were cooperating with “noble Kurds” to thwart the “Israeli-American” plan to attack Iranian soil.

Tehran said it targeted headquarters of Kurdish forces in Iraqi Kurdistan.

“We targeted the headquarters of Kurdish groups opposed to the revolution in Iraqi Kurdistan with three missiles,” Iran’s official IRNA news agency posted on Telegram, quoting a military statement.

“Separatist groups should not think that a breeze has blown and try to take action,” said Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. “We will not tolerate them in any way.”

The strikes killed a member from an exiled Iranian Kurdish group, according to a representative.

On Wednesday night Fox News reported that Kurdish militias in Iraq had launched a cross-border military operation in Iran. However, Iran’s Tasnim news agency, quoted by Reuters, said its reporters in three border provinces denied the reports.

Channel 12 reporter Barak Ravid, who at first cited a US official confirming the offensive, later said there were “conflicting reports” and that a senior official in one of the Iranian-Kurdish factions had also denied that a ground offensive had begun.

The Kurdish groups are widely seen as the most well-organized segment of the fragmented Iranian opposition and are believed to have thousands of trained fighters. Their entry into the war could potentially pose a significant challenge to the embattled authorities in Tehran and risk pulling Iraq further into the conflict.

Iranian Kurdish militias have consulted with the United States in recent days about whether, and how, to attack Iran’s security forces in the ​western part of the country, three sources with knowledge of the matter told AP.

Khalil Nadiri, an official with the Kurdistan Freedom Party, or PAK, based in northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, said Wednesday that some of their forces had moved to areas near the Iranian border in Sulaymaniyah province and were on standby.

He said Kurdish opposition group leaders had been contacted by US officials regarding a potential operation, without giving more details.

Asked about reports that the Trump administration was considering arming Iranian Kurdish groups, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters Wednesday: “None of our objectives are premised on the support or the arming of any particular force. So, what other entities may be doing, we’re aware of, but our objectives aren’t centered on that.”

Before the US and Israel attacked Iran on Saturday, the PAK had claimed attacks on Iran’s paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in retaliation for Tehran’s violent crackdown on protests. But an official with the group said it had not sent forces from Iraq into Iran.

If the Iranian and Iraqi Kurdish groups were to join the war, it would be the first entry of a significant ground force into the battle. The Kurdish groups have battle experience from the fight against the Islamic State group.

An official with Komala, another of the Kurdish Iranian groups, said Wednesday that their forces are ready to cross the border within a week to 10 days and were “waiting for the grounds to be suitable.” He spoke on condition of anonymity out of security concerns.

Kurds in Iran have a long history of grievances and uprisings against both the current Islamic Republic and the monarchy that preceded it. During the rule of shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Kurds were marginalized and repressed and sometimes rebelled.

After Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, the new theocracy also battled Kurdish insurgents. Iranian forces destroyed Kurdish towns and villages in fighting that killed thousands over several months.

While they share a desire to see the current authorities ousted, the Kurdish groups have also butted heads with other opposition groups — notably the faction led by the former shah’s son, Reza Pahlavi, who has accused the Kurds of being separatists aiming to carve up Iran.

Iraqi Kurds hesitant to join the fray

The potential operation has put leaders of the Iraqi Kurdish region in a delicate position.

The Washington Post reported Thursday that Trump had offered “extensive US aircover” and other forms of support for Iranian Kurdish opposition groups this week, citing multiple people familiar with the effort

Trump spoke this week to Kurdish leaders in Iran and in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq, the report said.

“The American request to the Iraqi Kurds is to open the way and not obstruct” Iranian Kurdish groups in Iraq, said a senior Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) official, “while also providing logistical support.” The PUK is one of the two major Iraqi Kurdish parties, and is generally seen as closer to Iran and more distant from Israel than its rival, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).

The senior official said that Trump was “clear” in his Sunday conversation with Bafel Talabani, leader of the PUK. “He told us the Kurds must choose a side in this battle — either with America and Israel or with Iran.”

Trump also called KDP head Masoud Barzani. A senior official from his party told The Post that Trump offered a similar message to Barzani, but added that “it’s not about who has more active armed militias” to cross into Iran, “it’s about who has more support from inside” the country.

Three Iraqi Kurdish officials confirmed to the Associated Press that the calls took place.

One such Iraqi Kurdish official said the Iraqi Kurds were concerned that getting directly involved in the conflict would draw a harsh Iranian response. Already, the Kurdish region has seen a string of drone and missile attacks by Iran and allied Iraqi militias in recent days, targeting US military bases and the US Consulate in Erbil as well as the Kurdish groups’ bases.

“We are in a very delicate position,” a senior PUK official told The Post. “If this ground offensive fails, we do not know what Iran’s reaction against the Kurdistan region of Iraq would be. At the same time, we cannot simply reject Trump’s request — especially when he personally calls and asks for it.”

While most of the Iranian attacks have been intercepted, civilian homes have been damaged, and the region is suffering from electricity cuts after a key gas field halted operations due to security concerns.

In a statement, the PUK confirmed that Talabani had spoken by phone with Trump, who “provided clarification and vision regarding US objectives in the war.” The statement said the PUK “believes that the best solution is a return to the negotiating table.”

Spokespeople for the Kurdish regional government in Iraq and for Barzani declined to comment.

The news site Axios first reported the call between Trump and the Kurdish leaders, and CNN reported that the Trump administration was in discussions with Kurdish groups over providing military support.

Iraq moves to seal the border

The presence of armed Iranian Kurdish groups in northern Iraq has been a point of friction between the central Iraqi government in Baghdad and Tehran.

Iraq in 2023 reached an agreement with Iran to disarm the groups and move them from their bases near the border areas with Iran — where they potentially posed an armed challenge to Tehran — into camps designated by Baghdad.

Their military bases were shut down and their movement within Iraq restricted, but the groups did not give up their weapons.

Iraq’s National Security Adviser Qassim al-Araji said in a post on X that Ali Bagheri, deputy secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, had requested in a call between them “that Iraq take the necessary measures to prevent any opposition groups from infiltrating the border between the two countries.”

Al-Araji said Iraq is committed to “preventing any groups from infiltrating or crossing the Iranian border or carrying out terrorist acts from Iraqi territory” and noted that security reinforcements had been sent to the border.

In addition to retaliation by Iran, any movement by Iraqi Kurds to join a cross-border attack would likely inflame tensions with Iran-backed Iraqi militias, which have already claimed missile and drone strikes on Erbil in recent days.