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.



France Plans to Take Iran to Int’l Court over Citizen Detentions

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (R) during a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Ministers of Foreign Affairs meeting in Brussels, Belgium, 03 April 2025.  EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (R) during a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Ministers of Foreign Affairs meeting in Brussels, Belgium, 03 April 2025. EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET
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France Plans to Take Iran to Int’l Court over Citizen Detentions

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (R) during a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Ministers of Foreign Affairs meeting in Brussels, Belgium, 03 April 2025.  EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (R) during a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Ministers of Foreign Affairs meeting in Brussels, Belgium, 03 April 2025. EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET

Two French citizens held in Iran for almost three years have not had consular services for more than a year prompting Paris to prepare a complaint at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), France's foreign ministry said on Thursday.
Cecile Kohler and her partner Jacques Paris have been held since May 2022. Iranian state television aired a video later that year with them appearing to confess to acting on behalf of French intelligence services, something categorically denied by Paris.
Held in Tehran's Evin prison, France has accused Iran of keeping them in conditions akin to torture.
French officials have toughened their language towards Iran, notably over the advancement of its nuclear program and regional activities, but also the detention of European citizens in the country.
Speaking after a rare cabinet meeting to broadly discuss Iran on Wednesday, France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot indicated Paris would soon take the matter of violating the right to consular protection to the ICJ.
"We are putting together a complaint that we will file at the ICJ," Foreign ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine told reporters at a news conference on Thursday, adding that the Kohler and Paris were being held in "shocking" conditions.
According to Reuters, Lemoine declined to say when it would be filed and acknowledged that procedures at the ICJ were long, but insisted that Tehran needed to be called out on the issue because the embassy and consulate had not had access to their citizens for more than a year.
"It's in violation of Iran's obligations," he said, citing the Vienna convention on consular relations.
In recent years, Iran's Revolutionary Guards have arrested dozens of dual nationals and foreigners, mostly on charges related to espionage and security.
Rights groups have accused Iran of trying to extract concessions from other countries through such arrests.
Iran, which does not recognize dual nationality, denies taking prisoners to gain diplomatic leverage.