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Iran: 20 Killed in Clashes Between IRGC, Kurdish Group

Soldiers from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) parade in Tehran. (AFP)
Soldiers from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) parade in Tehran. (AFP)
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Iran: 20 Killed in Clashes Between IRGC, Kurdish Group

Soldiers from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) parade in Tehran. (AFP)
Soldiers from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) parade in Tehran. (AFP)

At least 20 people were killed in armed clashes between Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and a Kurdish group opposed to the Iranian regime on the border between Iran, Turkey and the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

Reports varied concerning the reason for the clashes and number of losses between both sides. IRGC’s news agency Fars reported that the clashes were against a group that planned to enter the country through the bordering region of Oshnavieh (in Kurdistan province). Whereas, state-owned agency IRNA cited IRGC’s Hamzeh base saying that the Iranian forces dismantled an armed cell in the southwestern Iranian province of Azerbaijan.

IRGC killed 10 armed men carrying equipment in the Oshnavieh border area as they attempted to enter Iran, according to IRNA.

The corps issued a statement confirming the incident, but did not mention the identity of the armed group, rather described it as “affiliated to the world arrogant powers and the foreign intelligence services” that planned to enter the country to “foment insecurity and conduct acts of sabotage”.

Reports by official Iranian agencies did not mention the number of casualties among the IRGC, but operation assistant at Hamzeh base denied in a statement to Fars the reports saying that none of the troops was injured or killed in the fighting.

Meanwhile, Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) announced on its Twitter account that heavy clashes erupted between Kurdistan’s Peshmerga Forces and Iran’s IRGC outside Shno (Oshnavie) in eastern Kurdistan. “The clash lasted for 5 hours and according to initial reports 12 IRGC terrorists were killed,” it added.

The Party did not comment on official Iranian reports about the killing of its members.

Hamzeh base is responsible for securing Iran's border with Turkey and the Kurdistan region of Iraq, extending 200 kilometers from the western province of Azerbaijan, Kurdistan and Kermanshah to northern areas of the western province of Ilam.

PDKI was founded in October 1945 by Kurdish leader Qadi Mohammad in the city of Mahabad, raising the slogan "Autonomy of Kurdistan of Iran" and the right to self-determination.

Iran targeted party leaders twice after the 1979 revolution: the first in June 1989, when gunmen attacked Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou and several Kurdish politicians in Vienna. Few years later, on Sept. 17, 1992, gunmen posing as negotiators killed Sadegh Sharafkandi, the party's secretary-general, and a number of party leaders at a restaurant in Berlin.

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Türkiye Presses PKK to Disarm ‘Immediately’

An Iraqi Kurdish woman waves a flag bearing the portrait of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan as people gather at Freedom Park to listen to an audio message by the jailed leader in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on February 27, 2025. (AFP)
An Iraqi Kurdish woman waves a flag bearing the portrait of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan as people gather at Freedom Park to listen to an audio message by the jailed leader in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on February 27, 2025. (AFP)
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Türkiye Presses PKK to Disarm ‘Immediately’

An Iraqi Kurdish woman waves a flag bearing the portrait of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan as people gather at Freedom Park to listen to an audio message by the jailed leader in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on February 27, 2025. (AFP)
An Iraqi Kurdish woman waves a flag bearing the portrait of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan as people gather at Freedom Park to listen to an audio message by the jailed leader in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on February 27, 2025. (AFP)

Türkiye on Thursday insisted the PKK and all groups allied with it must disarm and disband "immediately", a week after a historic call by the Kurdish militant group's jailed founder.

"The PKK and all groups affiliated with it must end all terrorist activities, dissolve and immediately and unconditionally lay down their weapons," a Turkish defense ministry source said.

The remarks made clear the demand referred to all manifestations of Abdullah Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has led a four-decade insurgency against the Turkish state, costing tens of thousands of lives.

Although the insurgency targeted Türkiye, the PKK's leadership is based in the mountains of northern Iraq and its fighters are also part of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a key force in northeastern Syria.

Last week, Ocalan made a historic call urging the PKK to dissolve and his fighters to disarm, with the group on Saturday accepting his call and declaring a ceasefire.

The same day, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that if the promises were not kept, Turkish forces would continue their anti-PKK operations.

"If the promises given are not kept and an attempt is made to delay... or deceive... we will continue our ongoing operations... until we eliminate the last terrorist," he said.

- Resonance in Syria, Iraq -

Since 2016, Türkiye has carried out three major military operations in northern Syria targeting PKK militants, which it sees as a strategic threat along its southern border.

Ankara has made clear it wants to see all PKK fighters disarmed wherever they are -- notably those in the US-backed SDF, which it sees as part of the PKK.

The SDF -- the bulk of which is made up of the Kurdish YPG -- spearheaded the fight that ousted ISIS extremists from Syria in 2019, and is seen by much of the West as crucial to preventing an extremist resurgence.

Last week, SDF leader Mazloum Abdi welcomed Ocalan's call for the PKK to lay down its weapons but said it "does not concern our forces" in northeastern Syria.

But Türkiye disagrees.

Since the toppling of Syria's Bashar al-Assad in December, Ankara has threatened military action unless YPG militants are expelled, deeming them to be a regional security problem.

"Our fundamental approach is that all terrorist organizations should disarm and be dissolved in Iraq and Syria, whether they are called the PKK, the YPG or the SDF," Omer Celik, spokesman for Erdogan's ruling AKP, said on Monday.

Ocalan's call also affects Iraq, with the PKK leadership holed up in the mountainous north where Turkish forces have staged multiple air strikes in recent years.

Turkish forces have also established numerous bases there, souring Ankara's relationship with Baghdad.

"We don't want either the PKK or the Turkish army on our land... Iraq wants everyone to withdraw," Iraq's national security adviser Qassem al-Araji told AFP.

"Turkish forces are (in Iraq) because of the PKK's presence," he said, while pointing out that Türkiye had "said more than once that it has no territorial ambitions in Iraq".