IRGC Ambush Kills Six Kurdish Fighters as Clashes Spread in Western Iran

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Thursday that its forces had killed five members of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan. The Kurdish opposition group, however, told News Agency that six of its Peshmerga — a term widely used for Kurdish fighters — died in what it described as an IRGC ambush in northwestern Iran.

The confrontation signals a further escalation in Iran’s predominantly Kurdish west, following several days of reported attacks and clashes involving Iranian security forces, the IRGC and Kurdish armed groups.

The incident also highlights the delicate position of Iranian Kurdish opposition movements, which were recently seen by some U.S. and Israeli officials as a potential means of applying pressure on Tehran during the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. Those groups ultimately remained on the sidelines, amid inconsistent signals from Washington and pressure from both Iran and Turkey.

Majeed Gly, president of the American Kurdish Committee, told News Agency that the latest violence should not be interpreted as the start of a broad uprising, but he cautioned that it should not be written off as ordinary border unrest either.

“What I’m hearing is, this is not business as usual,” Gly said. “This is not like periodic clashes on the border. This is operations, and it seems to be deep inside.”

Gly said anger among Kurds has intensified after months of Iranian strikes on Kurdish areas and sites linked to opposition groups, including locations in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. He said the region has faced more than 850 attacks since February, killing at least six civilians and injuring dozens of others.

Hejar Berenji, the U.S. representative of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, also known as the PDKI, confirmed to News Agency that six PDKI Peshmerga were killed during a clash with IRGC forces in the Piranshahr area of Iranian Kurdistan.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it had killed five members of the banned PDKI in northwest Iran, Reuters reported Thursday, citing state media. The IRGC said the group was ambushed after entering Iranian territory in mountainous border areas near Piranshahr in West Azerbaijan Province.

Berenji identified the six Peshmerga as Karo Hormuziari, Fardin Changizi, Mohammad Khaki, Abdullah Mohammadpour, Twana Osmani and Mohammad Amin Bayezidi. He said the incident took place Wednesday night in the village of Qizqapan, near Piranshahr, and said the PDKI unit was on a “political and organizational mission” when it was “ambushed by a large and heavily equipped IRGC force.”

“This should be understood in the broader context of the Islamic Republic’s continued repression in Iranian Kurdistan and its repeated attacks on Iranian Kurdish civilian camps in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, even during ceasefire and negotiation periods,” Berenji said. “The regime has increased pressure on Kurdish communities because it understands that Iranian Kurds remain among the most organized and determined democratic forces inside Iran.”

The PDKI is one of Iran’s oldest Kurdish opposition movements. The group has been involved in decades of intermittent conflict with the Islamic Republic, while Tehran has long viewed Kurdish armed groups as separatist threats, while others describe it as a historic, centrist and nationalist Iranian Kurdish opposition group that Iran has targeted for years, including through assassinations of its leaders decades ago.

The Kurds are one of the largest stateless ethnic groups in the Middle East with communities spread across Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. In Iran, many Kurds live in the country’s mountainous west and northwest, where Kurdish opposition groups have long accused Tehran of repression, executions, forced assimilation and military crackdowns. Iranian authorities view armed Kurdish factions as separatist or “terrorist threats.”

The latest clash followed several days of violence in western Iran. A similar incident near Piranshahr was reported by Iranian state media Tuesday, with the IRGC saying it had killed six members of what it called an “opposition and separatist group.” 

Two IRGC members were killed and two wounded in a shooting in Kermanshah Province Monday evening, an attack claimed by a newly formed Kurdish armed group seeking retaliation for the IRGC’s role in suppressing the 2022–2023 protest movement, according to the Kurdish rights group Hengaw.

Iran also appeared to be expanding pressure on Kurdish opposition groups beyond PJAK, the Kurdistan Free Life Party, after days of clashes between PJAK and the IRGC, The Jerusalem Post reported Thursday. 

Berenji said the latest clash was not a response to ongoing U.S.–Iran memorandum of understanding negotiations, which remain unresolved as talks continue without a finalized agreement.

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“The Kurdish struggle for freedom, democracy and national rights predates the current negotiations and is not dependent on them,” Berenji said. “At the same time, any agreement that ignores the Kurdish question, the regime’s attacks on Kurdish civilians and the repression inside Iran will not bring real stability.”

Gly said Kurdish anger has been compounded by language in the U.S.–Iran memorandum of understanding that critics interpret as Washington agreeing not to interfere in Iran’s internal affairs.

“This sentence has taken every Iranian opposition group the wrong way, especially the Kurds,” Gly said. 

He argued that even during negotiations with hostile powers, the United States should not abandon its public support for freedom movements, invoking former President Ronald Reagan’s approach to the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Gly said he does not see clear evidence that Kurdish groups have gained major new military capabilities but said the perception of Iran’s strength has changed.

“What has changed is the perception of weakness of Iran,” Gly told News Agency. “They are less afraid of the regime.”

The new violence carries broader significance for Washington because Iranian Kurdish opposition groups were recently discussed as a possible ground pressure point against Tehran. 

U.S. officials and Kurdish groups had discussed a potential military operation against Iranian security forces in western Iran, Reuters reported in March, while a separate report said Israel was backing Iranian Kurdish plans to seize Iranian border areas, though such an operation would likely require U.S. and Israeli support.

But those expectations quickly faltered. In April, Kurdish fighters ultimately stayed out of the war because of mixed signals from Washington and Israel and Iranian threats and strikes against Kurdish positions in Iraq. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged President Donald Trump during the conflict to prevent Kurdish forces from launching a ground operation inside Iran, reflecting Ankara’s longstanding opposition to Kurdish armed movements gaining ground in the region, Reuters also reported. 

During the conflict, Trump told Reuters he would be “all for it” if the Kurds wanted to move against Iran and said their objective should be “to win,” but Kurdish commanders were frustrated by the lack of a clear U.S. or Israeli strategy.

Berenji said the PDKI does not seek chaos, but insisted Kurdish forces have the right to defend themselves.

“We seek a democratic, pluralistic, secular and federal Iran where all nations and communities can live with dignity and rights,” he said. “But the Kurdish people also have the right to defend themselves against repression, intimidation, and attacks by the IRGC.”

News Agency has reached out to Iran’s mission to the United Nations for comment.