Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is confronting a surge of violence in the Kurdish-majority western regions of the country, signaling a possible intensification of a longstanding Kurdish insurgency as fragile negotiations between Iran and the United States continue.

In recent days, multiple attacks and clashes have resulted in the deaths of Iranian security personnel across western and northwestern Iran. According to The Jerusalem Post, four Iranian security personnel were killed and several others injured in two separate armed attacks on Tuesday. Tasnim News, an outlet close to the IRGC, reported that two IRGC members were killed and two wounded in an "armed terrorist attack" in Paveh, a border city in Kermanshah Province.

The Paveh attack was claimed by Xore Heva, also known as "Sun of Hope," a lesser-known armed Kurdish group. The group stated the attack was retaliation for Iran’s crackdown on protests following the 2022 death of Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, who died after being detained by Iran’s morality police for allegedly violating mandatory hijab rules.

Earlier in June, IranWire reported that the Kurdish group YRK accused the IRGC of launching artillery and mortar attacks against its positions near Marivan, Iran, beginning June 8, which YRK described as prompting a defensive response.

The flare-up has implications beyond Iran’s borderlands, as Kurdish opposition groups were previously seen as potential leverage against Iran during the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Tehran. However, some Kurdish voices express concern about being left vulnerable amid renewed diplomacy between Washington and Tehran.

Kurdish parties reportedly do not believe that any deal with the Iranian regime will benefit the Iranian people, citing decades of repression, arrests, and killings in Kurdish areas. They warn that such agreements would only strengthen the regime. There is also dissatisfaction among the Kurdish population that the IRGC can attack Kurdish parties and fighters without eliciting a response.

The IRGC continues to demonstrate military strength, having unveiled the Iranian Kheibar Surface-to-Surface missile during a military rally in Tehran in November 2023.

Sources