Iran strikes Kurdish opposition groups suspected of involvement in US-backed regime change plan

Alongside attacks on U.S. bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, and Jordan, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have also targeted sites in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region over the past couple weeks, targeting both U.S. military assets in the region, along with Kurdish opposition groups. 

The attacks on Kurdish opposition groups appears to be a retaliation for the willingness of several of the Kurdish resistance groups to partner with the U.S. and Israel during the military operations launched February 28. 

Early in the war, the U.S. appeared ready to use the Kurdish resistance groups as part of an attempt to destabilize the regime, while also distracting regime forces, such as the IRGC and Basij militias. It was reportedly believed that this could enable Iranian civilians to take over several cities, which alongside the American and Israeli attacks, could eventually lead to regime change. 

The recent Iranian attacks have largely focused on the areas around Erbil and Sulaymaniyah, where many of the Kurdish opposition groups are located. 

While the IRGC has publicly taken responsibility for the attacks on Kuwait, Bahrain, and Jordan, it has not done so for the attacks in the Kurdish autonomous region, leading some analysts to believe that the IRGC may have used proxies in Iraq to carry out the attacks. 

However, one such proxy, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella organization for several major pro-Iranian militias, denied having conducted any such attacks in recent days. 

"We have not carried out military attacks against U.S. bases in Iraq or the region in recent days," the group said in a statement Saturday. 

Danny Citrinowicz, a former head of the Iran branch in the IDF Intelligence Directorate and senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies, told Ynet News that Iran itself launched the attacks. 

“This time it was Iran itself that carried out the attacks,” Citrinowicz said. 

A report in i24 News’ Hebrew channel offered more insight into the U.S. and Israeli plan to use the Kurds as part of their regime change plan. 

Based on discussions with representatives of the Kurdish groups involved, i24 reported that the plan was a real operation, and that light weapons were indeed transferred to the region, although most never reached the Kurdish groups, with some apparently remaining in possession of U.S. forces in northern Iraq. 

The Kurdish groups also stated that they were prepared to enter Iranian territory to engage IRGC and Basij forces, with air support from Israel and the Americans. 

That plan was canceled at the last minute, due to Turkish pressure, the i24 report claimed, based on the Kurdish sources. The Kurdish groups say that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was unwilling to see a strengthened Kurdish opposition group so close to his border. He also feared the influx of refugees from the fighting. 

Turkey absorbed over 3 million refugees during the Syrian Civil War and the fight against ISIS. 

After the ceasefire in mid April, anonymous Israeli officials blamed U.S. Vice President JD Vance for the leak of the plan to Turkish leadership, according to reports in Hebrew media. 

The Kurdish officials who spoke with i24 appeared to support that narrative, claiming the vice president notified Turkish officials before the Kurdish militias were able to cross the border into Iran. 

While Vance’s office has denied such reports, since the announcement of the ceasefire, Vance has been publicly critical of the war and particularly of Israel’s goals in the joint war effort. 

Recently, even President Donald Trump said that he stopped Erdoğan from entering the war on the side of Iran, an apparent reference to the Turkish resistance to Kurdish participation in the Iran conflict. 

“He was a prime candidate to go into the war with Iran – maybe on the Iran side, because he’s not a big fan of Israel,” Trump said. “I asked him to stay out. He stayed out.” 

An Iranian drone attack near Erbil in the Kurdish region of Iraq on Sunday wounded eight Kurdish-Iranian rebels affiliated with the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), a spokesman for the group said. The PAK is one of the groups who was in talks with the U.S. about an invasion of Iran. 

A similar drone attack last Friday killed nine members of the Komala Party, another Iranian Kurdish opposition group, which was also collaborating with the U.S. 

Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei claimed that Iranian attacks in northern Iraq have targeted “American military bases and facilities.” 

“Iran's defensive operations target American military bases and facilities used to plan, prepare and conduct military operations against Iran, as well as assembly points, military installations and bases used by anti-Iranian elements located in neighboring countries," Baghaei said. 

He also claimed that Iran was acting in the interests of the  “shared security of Iran and Iraq.” 

“These actions are taken to protect Iran's security as well as the shared security of Iran and Iraq,” Baghaei said. “We have a security agreement with Iraq, and we are acting to ensure that Iraqi territory and the Kurdistan region are not exploited to organize, plan or prepare hostile armed operations against Iran.”