Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) killed six members of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) in an ambush in northwest Iran, marking a significant escalation in the region's ongoing unrest. The clash occurred Wednesday night in the village of Qizqapan, near Piranshahr in West Azerbaijan Province, according to Kurdish opposition sources. The IRGC initially reported killing five members of what it described as a banned separatist group, but PDKI officials confirmed six of their Peshmerga fighters died in the attack.
Hejar Berenji, the U.S. representative of the PDKI, identified the slain fighters as Karo Hormuziari, Fardin Changizi, Mohammad Khaki, Abdullah Mohammadpour, Twana Osmani, and Mohammad Amin Bayezidi. He stated that the PDKI unit was on a «political and organizational mission» when it was ambushed by a large and heavily equipped IRGC force. The incident underscores the volatile security situation in Iran's Kurdish-majority west, where clashes between Iranian security forces and Kurdish armed factions have intensified in recent days.
Majeed Gly, president of the American Kurdish Committee, told Fox News Digital that the latest clashes should not be dismissed as routine border violence. «What I'm hearing is, this is not business as usual,» Gly said. «This is not like periodic clashes on the border. This is operations, and it seems to be deep inside.» He noted that Kurdish frustration has grown sharply after months of Iranian attacks on Kurdish areas and opposition-linked sites, including in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, where more than 850 attacks since February have left at least six civilians dead and dozens wounded.
The PDKI is one of Iran's oldest Kurdish opposition movements, with a history of intermittent conflict with the Islamic Republic dating back decades. Tehran has long viewed Kurdish armed groups as separatist threats, while Kurdish groups describe themselves as democratic and nationalist forces seeking greater rights for Iran's Kurdish minority. The Kurds are one of the largest stateless ethnic groups in the Middle East, with communities spread across Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. In Iran, many Kurds live in the mountainous west and northwest, where they have long accused Tehran of repression, executions, forced assimilation, and military crackdowns.
The latest clash followed several days of violence in western Iran. On Tuesday, Iranian state media reported a similar incident near Piranshahr, with the IRGC claiming to have killed six members of what it called an «opposition and separatist group.» On Monday evening, two IRGC members were killed and two wounded in a shooting in Kermanshah Province, an attack claimed by a newly formed Kurdish armed group seeking retaliation for the IRGC's role in suppressing the 2022–2023 protest movement, according to the Kurdish rights group Hengaw. Iran also appeared to be expanding pressure on Kurdish opposition groups beyond PJAK, the Kurdistan Free Life Party, after days of clashes between PJAK and the IRGC.
Berenji emphasized that the latest clash was not a response to ongoing U.S.–Iran negotiations over a memorandum of understanding, which remain unresolved. «The Kurdish struggle for freedom, democracy, and national rights predates the current negotiations and is not dependent on them,» he said. «At the same time, any agreement that ignores the Kurdish question, the regime's attacks on Kurdish civilians, and the repression inside Iran will not bring real stability.»
Gly expressed concern that language in the U.S.–Iran memorandum of understanding, which critics interpret as Washington agreeing not to interfere in Iran's internal affairs, has angered Iranian opposition groups, particularly the Kurds. «This sentence has taken every Iranian opposition group the wrong way, especially the Kurds,» Gly said. He argued that even during negotiations with hostile powers, the United States should not abandon its public support for freedom and democracy in Iran. The broader context of the clashes reflects the complex dynamics of Kurdish opposition in Iran, where groups like the PDKI have faced decades of repression while remaining a persistent challenge to Tehran's authority.
