Iran Strengthens Military Presence on Iraq Border in Push Against Kurdish Groups
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it is mobilizing on the western border to prevent infiltration of Kurdish separatists from Iraq
Iran is deploying armored and special units along its western border to prevent the infiltration of Kurdish opposition groups based in Iraq, a top commander of the Revolutionary Guard said Friday, exacerbating the risk of a wider military conflict in the volatile area.
The deployment follows an intensification of Tehran’s response to protests sweeping the country, particularly in the Kurdish border areas, which have experienced some of the most consistent antigovernment rallies. Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old woman whose death in police custody in mid-September sparked the unrest, was born in Kurdistan.
Kurdistan could suffer more violence if Tehran amplifies its military confrontations with Kurdish groups on both sides of the border.
Brig. Gen. Sardar Mohammad Pakpour, the commander of the Revolutionary Guard’s ground forces, said the guard was strengthening forces in the area, “following activities of evil and separatist anti-Iranian terrorist groups.” He accused the groups of destabilizing the northwest of the country, according to Iranian news agencies.
Kurdish areas on both sides of the border are home to separatist groups that Iran has labeled as terrorists, but separatist slogans have largely been absent from recent protests. Since the demonstrations began, Iran has repeatedly attacked northern Iraq with missiles and drones, most recently earlier this week, targeting Kurdish groups that it alleges are fomenting unrest in the Islamic Republic.
More than 400 people have been killed since the protests broke out in mid-September, including about 60 children, according to human-rights organizations. Several protesters have been sentenced to death and more than 1,000 face indictments.
Kurdistan has been one of the main focuses in the crackdown by authorities. As Tehran’s response to the protests has become more militarized, the death toll in the Kurdish areas has increased. Hundreds have been arrested, according to rights activists, and Iranian security forces have circled several Kurdish cities in low-flying military helicopters in the past week.
Iraq’s government condemned Iran’s attack this week on its Kurdish areas as a unilateral, hostile act. Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani said the national security council would meet to discuss the deployment of troops to the area to counter claims that the border was open for separatist infiltration.
Tehran informed Iraqi militias as well as the Baghdad government before it launched its first strikes against the Kurdish areas in Iraq, according to a senior Iraqi Shiite politician allied with Iran. Iran had said it would use missiles and drones on specific targets, not take broader military action or initiate a ground incursion, to avoid embarrassing the new pro-Iranian Shiite government in place in Baghdad, he said.
The United Nations human-rights council on Thursday voted to establish an independent fact-finding mission to investigate alleged human-rights abuses by Iranian authorities since the eruption of protests in mid-September.
As Iranians have challenged security forces in the streets at home, many have looked to the national soccer team, which is participating in the Qatar World Cup, for support. After refusing earlier in the week to sing the country’s national anthem in an apparent gesture of solidarity with protesters, the team on Friday broke its silence before kickoff against Wales, albeit with some players seeming to mouth along rather than sing it.
Following the players’ silent protest, Iranian security forces on Thursday arrested one of Iran’s most famous footballers and a former member of the national team, Voria Ghafouri, accusing him of spreading propaganda against the Islamic Republic. Mr. Ghafouri, who is Kurdish, had called on the government to stop killing Kurdish people.
On Friday, pro-establishment Iranian media immediately reported that the national anthem had been “on the lips of the heroes of the national football team.”
The normally revered national soccer team has been heavily criticized by opponents of the Islamic Republic for failing to speak out sooner, and for meeting with President Ebrahim Raisi ahead of the World Cup. Many Iranians say they hope the team loses.
After the game with Wales, which Iran won 2-0, pro-government crowds celebrated in central Tehran, and uniformed security forces waved the flag of the Islamic Republic.