Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Continue to Target Kurdish Opposition in Iraq

Iran’s hardline Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) once again targeted the headquarters of "dissident groups" in Iraqi Kurdistan, state media reported on Monday.

The Iranian government has targeted Iranian Kurdish militant opposition bases in Iraq's Kurdish region since the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, on September 16, who was beaten and died in morality police custody after being arrested in Tehran for “improper hijab”. Amini was from Saqqez in Kurdistan.

According to Iraqi and Kurdish officials, the latest strikes come after a visit to Baghdad last week by Iran’s Quds Force commander Esmail Ghaani, the commander of Iran’s foreign forces, who threatened Iraq with a ground military operation if the Iraqi army did not fortify its border with Iran against Kurdish opposition groups.

"Iran has acted to protect its borders and the security of its citizens, based on its legal rights,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani told reporters in Tehran.

The authorities in Iran allege that Kurdish opposition groups are inciting anti-government protests in Iran and smuggling weapons into the country. Kurdish groups deny the allegations.

Iran’s nationwide demonstrations have grown into a broad movement against the theocracy that has ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The Oslo-based Iran Human Rights organization said that the death toll from the state crackdown on protests was at 378 – representing an increase of 36 since the group issued its previous toll three days earlier.