Wikipedia

Western Iran clashes (2026–present)

Beginning in early June 2026,[7] armed clashes erupted between the Kurdistan Free Life Party's (PJAK) armed wing, the Eastern Kurdistan Units (YRK), and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the highlands of western Iran (Iranian Kurdistan), particularly near Marivan and regions south of Mahabad. In late June and early July 2026, clashes intensified and spread to the Iran–Iraq border, the Sardasht–Baneh–Saqqez triangle,[5] urban areas, and began to involve other Iranian Kurdish opposition groups, including the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI).

Western Iran clashes (2026–present)
Part of the Kurdish–Iranian crisis during the 2026 Iran war

Iranian border guard outpost along the Iran–Iraq (Kurdistan Region) border, June 2026.
Date7 June 2026 – present (4 months, 1 week and 1 day)
Location
Iran (Iranian Kurdistan) Kurdistan Region in Iraq
Status Ongoing
Belligerents
Coalition of Political Forces of Iranian Kurdistan
Kurdistan Region Sun of Hope
Units involved
Casualties and losses
per Kurdish:
9 killed[1][2]		 per Iran:
Iran 1 killed[3]
per Kurdish:
Iran 21 killed, 4 injured[4][5][6]

Besides the armed clashes, ACLED recorded a significant increase in assassinations of IRGC affiliates and countermeasures by the Basij, including the expansion of its "popular intelligence network." The assassinations have been attributed to PJAK-linked groups such as the Patriotic Youth of Kurdistan and Kurdistan Martyrs' Revenge Teams, as well as newly emerging groups such as Sun of Hope (Khori Hiwa).[8]

Background

During the Iranian–Kurdish conflict, the Iranian Kurdish opposition's last major ground confrontation with Iran occurred during the 2016–2023 clashes. As a result of the 2026 Iran war, the IRGC targeted Iranian Kurdish opposition parties in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) through aerial attacks, reportedly in anticipation of a potential U.S.-backed Kurdish offensive.[9][10] However, Kurdish groups remained relatively passive, citing the lack of long-term U.S. war objectives. Reports of alleged leaks concerning U.S. and Israeli offensive plans and weapons supplies, combined with pressure from Turkey, Iraq, and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), followed by the withdrawal of U.S. support, effectively closed the window of opportunity.[10][11] Meanwhile, Iran reinforced its border regions along the KRI, pressured Iraq to expel Kurdish groups,[12] and reactivated elements of the Muslim Peshmerga.[13][14]

Although hostilities between Iran, the U.S., and Israel had largely ceased following the Islamabad Memorandum in mid-June,[15] Iranian strikes on Kurdish opposition groups in the KRI continued,[16] and fighting soon erupted between the IRGC and Kurdish armed groups. The clashes included sustained ground fighting inside Iranian Kurdistan.[17] Hengaw reported that the clashes spread to multiple cities in Iranian Kurdistan, while Fox News indicated that the clashes could lead to the renewing of a larger Kurdish insurgency.[18][19]

PJAK stated that the renewed clashes were a consequence of the memorandum between the United States and Iran, and that Iran escalated the situation thereafter.[1][20] The killing of two prominent Yarsani-Kurdish cultural activists also sparked outrage in the region, prompting a PJAK spokesperson to state that "when the regime speaks to the Kurdish people through executions, assassinations, and massacres, the Kurds will answer with legitimate self-defense."[21]

Timeline

June

Clashes reportedly began on 7 June when pro-PKK ANF News claimed that the armed wing of PJAK, the Eastern Kurdistan Units (YRK), was targeted by artillery fire of the IRGC and repelled an attack in Marivan.[22] According to ANF News, IRGC bombardments, including drone strikes, on areas near Marivan and Baneh continued on 16 June and 25 June.[23][24] On 20 June, Iran's Armed Forces General Staff (AFGS) confirmed the clashes and stated that it was closely monitoring militant activity in the provinces of Kurdistan, West Azerbaijan, and Kermanshah, and that it had adopted an "active deterrence" doctrine.[4] On 23 June, clashes in the Khawmirabad area along the Iran–Iraq border resulted in the death of an Iranian border officer at the hands of unidentified armed individuals.[25] On 26 June, an attack on the Saqqez–Baneh road at the entrance to Baneh, which may have been related to the clashes, killed between two and three Iranian police officers and injured between two and five others, according to differing reports.[21][4][26] The Sardasht–Baneh–Saqqez triangle experienced increasing Iranian military deployments and shelling of the surrounding mountain areas.[5] On 29 June, the YRK described ongoing clashes between its forces and the IRGC as "military operations" launched by the latter, which it said had escalated in the area of Mahabad, particularly the village of Gagesh.[27] The Amargi also described the clashes as a military operation backed by significant firepower.[21] At the end of June, Hengaw reported that the clashes had resulted in the deaths of four YRK fighters and three IRGC members, as well as the injury of four Iranian security personnel and one civilian.[28] The deaths of the four YRK fighters were also confirmed by the group itself,[1] while PJAK-aligned media claimed that 16 IRGC members were killed, three Iranian drones were destroyed, and an IRGC depot was struck by a first-person-view (FPV) drone.[5] Iranian authorities acknowledged at least one death among its border guards.[29]

On 29 June, the newly formed Kurdish militant group Sun of Hope (Xori Hiwa) carried out an attack on the residence of a local Kurdish Basij member in Paveh.[6] The attack reportedly resulted in the deaths of two Basij members and injury of two more.[6][30] Following the attack, Sun of Hope announced its formation and stated that its main goals were to "promote political awareness, strengthen Kurdish national identity, and confront the policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran."[31] The group had also reported clashes between its fighters and the IRGC in Piranshahr.[28] An attack in Paveh on the same day was also claimed by the PJAK-linked Kurdistan Patriotic Youth.[32]

July

On 1 July and in the early hours of 2 July, heavy clashes erupted between KDPI Peshmerga and the IRGC in the village of Qazqapan, approximately 3 kilometres west of Piranshahr, near the Iraqi border. The KDPI confirmed five deaths among its forces, while Iranian state-linked media claimed between six and eleven were killed among the group.[33][34] On the same day, Iraq reported a drone strike on an Iranian Kurdish militant base east of Erbil, Kurdistan Region.[35]

On 7 July, RojNews, citing regional sources, reported that Iran had intensified troop deployments along the Iran–Iraq border following the clashes in June.[36] The following day, the state-affiliated Iranian Students' News Agency reported that one IRGC member had been killed in clashes with what it described as "terrorist groups" in the Sardasht region.[37]

On 15 July, IranWire reported that Iran had deployed 3,000 personnel from the Saberin Takavar Brigade to the western border region, units of the IRGC Ground Force and Aerospace Force, alongside tanks, artillery, Katyusha rocket launchers, and large numbers of reconnaissance and kamikaze drones, significantly increasing its military presence in the region.[38]

By 19 July, Iranian authorities had closed civilian access to the Iran–Iraq border with the Kurdistan Region. Around the same time, Hengaw reported that the IRGC had held a large-scale military meeting at its headquarters in the town of Ravansar. The meeting was attended by Kourosh Asiabani, commander of the IRGC's regional headquarters in western Iran, along with other IRGC personnel, Basij forces, and armed local auxiliaries commonly known as jash.[39]

On July 25, 2026, Sun of Hope said it assassinated a high-ranking intelligence official in Piranshahr.[40] Hengaw confirmed that the attack had occurred at the IRGC's 124th Ramadan Base and reported that another IRGC member had been seriously injured.[41]

On 27 July, the semi-official Mehr News Agency cited the spokesperson for the Iranian Police Command as saying that four PJAK members had been killed "in an armed clash" with Iranian forces after they had "attempted to enter the country."[42] Hengaw, however, disputed the official account, reporting that the incident was an IRGC ambush targeting Kurdish artist and cultural activist Mehdi Tavakkoli and his family while they were travelling on the Marivan–Baneh road. According to the human rights organization, Iranian police subsequently claimed that Tavakkoli was affiliated with PJAK and pressured his family to describe the incident as a traffic accident.[43]

On 30 July, an IRGC-affiliated local auxiliary was killed in Baneh in an attack by unidentified gunmen.[44]

August

On 2 August, clashes between an unidentified armed group, presumed to be PJAK, and the Iranian Army's 328th Marivan Brigade at its base in Sianav left one Iranian soldier dead and another wounded. The attack reportedly involved loitering munitions and RPG fire targeting the base.[45]

On 6 August, Hengaw reported that a veteran IRGC-affiliated local auxiliary had been killed in an attack on his family home. The attack was attributed to PJAK, although no group claimed responsibility.[46] The same day, the Sun of Hope organization claimed that its fighters had clashed with Iranian government forces in West Azerbaijan province over the previous 24 hours, alleging that they had inflicted casualties.[47]

On 8 August, two separate clashes in Gagesh, south of Mahabad, and Sanandaj resulted in the deaths of two IRGC members. The Sun of Hope organization was reportedly involved in both incidents.[48]

September

On 8 September, an armed attack killed Eslam Kak Darvishi, who had served as an IRGC commander in Marivan, Baneh and Piranshahr in previous years, in Piranshahr. On 13 September, a motorcycle drive-by shooting targeted a Basij member and cleric affiliated with the IRGC in Piranshahr county, killing him. Sun of Hope claimed responsibility for both attacks, while the IRGC Provincial Corps in Urmia confirmed the death of the Basij member and cleric and attributed the attack to Kurdish opposition parties.[49]

On 28 September, PJAK-aligned media claimed that the Kurdistan Martyrs' Revenge Teams killed Haidar Moradi, an active Basij member and Kurdish IRGC collaborator, in an assassination in the town of Kamyaran.[50]

Regional spillover

In early August, the Iranian Army claimed that the 23rd Airborne Special Forces Brigade had carried out 14 cross-border raids into the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, killing several "anti-revolutionary elements." Neither the Iraqi government nor the Kurdistan Regional Government confirmed that the incursions had taken place and the reports remained unconfirmed.[51]

Reactions

Non-state actors

Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK): In light of the clashes in late June, PKK commander Murat Karayılan called on the Iranian government to pursue diplomacy rather than military action, stating that "a war [...] between the Kurds and the Iranian state [...] will not serve any side."[52]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "YRK: Four of our fighters were martyred during Iraqi military operation in Mahabad". ANF News. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  2. ↑ "Five KDPI Peshmerga killed in IRGC ambush in western Iran". Rudaw. 2026-07-02. Retrieved 2026-07-02.
  3. ↑ "IRGC member killed in Kurdish-majority area clashes amid rising tensions". Rudaw. 2026-07-09. Retrieved 2026-07-09.
  4. 1 2 3 Grace, Adam (2026-06-30). "Iran Update Special Report, June 30, 2026". Institute for the Study of War. Retrieved 2026-07-02.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Kurdish–IRGC Clashes in Northwest Iran Expose a Growing Internal…". Hamer Intelligence Services. 2026-06-29. Retrieved 2026-07-02.
  6. 1 2 3 "Two Kurdish Basij members killed by gunmen in western Iran". Rudaw. 2026-06-30. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  7. ↑ Seif Qazi, Donya. "Five KDPI members killed in overnight clashes with Iranian forces in Rojhelat". The New Region. Retrieved 2026-07-02. Since early June, clashes have erupted between opposition groups and the Islamic republic's forces in western Iran's Kurdish majority regions (Rojhelat), leading to casualties on both sides on several occasions.
  8. ↑ "What is behind the rise in targeted killings in Iran's Kurdish regions?". ACLED. 2026-09-09. Retrieved 2026-09-13.
  9. ↑ Frantzman, Seth J. (2 March 2026). "Kurdish Iranian opposition groups say Iran targeted them in northern Iraq, claim operations in Iran". Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Archived from the original on 3 March 2026. Retrieved 2 March 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  10. 1 2 "Has the window for action by Iranian Kurdish opposition forces truly passed?". Amwaj.media. Retrieved 2026-07-02.
  11. ↑ "Turkey's PKK peace process is likely to strengthen the PJAK in its confrontation with the Islamic Republic". ACLED. 2023-02-08. Retrieved 2026-09-13.
  12. ↑ "Kurdish PJAK rebels clash with IRGC in major border escalation". The Jerusalem Post. 2026-06-30. Retrieved 2026-07-02.
  13. ↑ Hussein, Dalshad (2026-02-24). "Between Iraq and Iran… A Border Bracing for Fire". Alhurra. Retrieved 2026-07-02.
  14. ↑ ""The Muslim Peshmerga" … How Iran Seeks to Contain Its Kurds". Alhurra. 24 April 2026. Retrieved 14 June 2026.
  15. ↑ Staff, Al Jazeera. "Iran, US presidents sign deal to extend ceasefire, reopen Strait of Hormuz". Al Jazeera English. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  16. ↑ "Could Iranian Kurdish blind spot unravel tenuous Iran-US truce?". Amwaj.media. Retrieved 2026-07-02.
  17. ↑ "3 IRGC members killed in twin attacks as Iran intensifies Kurdish crackdown". Al-Monitor. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  18. ↑ "Hengaw report on deadly armed clashes in multiple cities". Hengaw. 30 June 2026. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  19. ↑ Lachter, Efrat (2026-06-30). "Wave of attacks on Iran's IRGC raises questions about renewed Kurdish insurgency". Fox News. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  20. ↑ "PJAK Confirms Four Fighters Killed by IRGC". iranwire.com. Retrieved 2026-07-02.
  21. 1 2 3 Goli, Ammar (2026-06-30). "New clashes between IRGC and PJAK as Tehran increases pressure on Kurdish parties". The Amargi. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  22. ↑ "YRK: Our forces responded to an Iranian attack in Marivan". ANF News. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  23. ↑ "YRK reports Iranian bombardment in Marivan countryside". ANF News. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  24. ↑ "YRK vows to retaliate if attacks by Iran continue". ANF News. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  25. ↑ "HANA Report: Escalating Armed Clashes Across Kurdistan Raise Serious Civilian Protection Concerns | Hana Human Rights Organization". HANA Human Rights Organization. 2026-07-03. Retrieved 2026-07-05.
  26. ↑ "KHRN: At least 10 members of PDKI, PJAK lose their lives in IRGC clashes". Kurdistan Human Rights Network. 2026-07-02. Retrieved 2026-07-02.
  27. ↑ "YRK reports clash amid ongoing Iranian military operation in Mahabad". ANF News. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  28. 1 2 "Hengaw report on deadly armed clashes in multiple cities". Hengaw. 30 June 2026. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  29. ↑ "HANA Report: Escalating Armed Clashes Across Kurdistan Raise Serious Civilian Protection Concerns | Hana Human Rights Organization". 2026-07-01. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  30. ↑ "Deadly attacks shake northwest Iran as IRGC reports new clashes". www.iranintl.com. 2026-06-30. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  31. ↑ "3 IRGC members killed in twin attacks as Iran intensifies Kurdish crackdown". Al-Monitor. Retrieved 2026-07-01.
  32. ↑ "PJAK Spokesperson on clashes in Rojhilat: Self-defense is entirely legitimate and lawful". ANF News. Retrieved 2026-07-02.
  33. ↑ "Heavy Clashes Erupt Between IRGC and Kurdish Opposition Groups Near Iran-Iraq Border". iranwire.com. Retrieved 2026-07-02.
  34. ↑ "Five KDPI Peshmerga killed in IRGC ambush in western Iran". Rudaw. 2026-07-02. Retrieved 2026-07-02.
  35. ↑ "Heavy Clashes Erupt Between IRGC and Kurdish Opposition Groups Near Iran-Iraq Border". iranwire.com. Retrieved 2026-07-03.
  36. ↑ "ڕژێمی ئێران هێزی زیاتری ڕەوانەی سنووری باشوور و ڕۆژ‌هەڵاتی کوردستان کردووە - كوردستان" ["The Iranian regime has sent more troops to the border between southern and eastern Kurdistan"]. RojNews. 2026-07-07. Retrieved 2026-07-07.
  37. ↑ "IRGC member killed in Kurdish-majority area clashes amid rising tensions". Rudaw. 2026-07-09. Retrieved 2026-07-09.
  38. ↑ "IRGC Deploys 3,000 Saberin Special Forces and Heavy Armour to Kurdistan Borders". IranWire. 15 July 2026. Retrieved 2026-07-23.
  39. ↑ "IRGC holds military meeting in Ravansar as authorities ban access to Kurdistan border areas". Hengaw. 19 July 2026. Retrieved 2026-07-20.
  40. ↑ Qazi, Donya (July 26, 2026). "IRGC warns of alleged US plans to overthrow government through opposition". The New Region.
  41. ↑ "IRGC member killed, another seriously wounded in armed attack in Piranshahr". Hengaw. 26 July 2026. Retrieved 2026-07-28.
  42. ↑ "Four Kurdish dissidents killed in clashes with Iranian forces in Rojhelat". Rudaw. 2026-07-27. Retrieved 2026-07-28.
  43. ↑ "Kurdish activist Mehdi Tavakkoli, mother and sister killed in targeted state attack". Hengaw. 27 July 2026. Retrieved 2026-07-28.
  44. ↑ "IRGC-affiliated local auxiliary killed in armed attack in Baneh". Hengaw. 30 July 2026. Retrieved 2026-07-30.
  45. ↑ "One Iranian army soldier killed, another seriously wounded in armed clash near Marivan". Hengaw. 2026-08-02. Retrieved 2026-08-02.
  46. ↑ "Armed IRGC member killed in attack at family home in Sarvabad". Hengaw. 6 August 2026. Retrieved 2026-08-06.
  47. ↑ "Khori Hiwa (Sun of Hope), a newly formed armed group in western Iran (Rojhelat), said early Thursday that its fighters clashed with Iranian government forces [...]". The New Region on X. 6 August 2026. Retrieved 6 August 2026.
  48. ↑ "Du Endamên Pasdarên Îranê li Sine û Mehabadê Hatin Kuştin" [Two Members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Killed in Sine and Mahabad]. Voice of America (in Kurdish). 2026-08-08. Retrieved 2026-08-08.
  49. ↑ "Two IRGC-affiliated men killed in separate armed attacks in Piranshahr". Hengaw. 12 September 2026. Retrieved 2026-09-13.
  50. ↑ "Kurdish dissident group claims responsibility for killing Basij member in western Iran". Rudaw. 2026-10-01. Retrieved 2026-10-02.
  51. ↑ "Iranian army conducts 10+ raids in Iraqi Kurdistan". Shafaq News. 3 August 2026. Retrieved 2026-08-06.
  52. ↑ "PKK commander calls Iran attack on Kurds 'big mistake'". Rudaw. 2026-07-07. Retrieved 2026-07-07.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Western_Iran_clashes_(2026–present)&oldid=1377991507"