A wave of attacks targeting Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the country's western and northwestern Kurdish-majority regions has intensified, prompting questions about whether a long-simmering Kurdish insurgency is entering a more active phase. The recent violence occurs as fragile diplomatic talks between Iran and the United States continue.
Iranian security forces have sustained casualties in several reported clashes. On Tuesday, four Iranian security personnel were reportedly killed and others injured in separate armed attacks, according to The Jerusalem Post, citing Iraq’s Shafaq News. In one incident, two IRGC members were reportedly killed and two wounded in what Iran's Tasnim News described as an "armed terrorist attack" in Paveh, Kermanshah Province. In Baneh, Iran, two police officers were killed and three others, including a child, were injured in an attack on a police checkpoint, The Jerusalem Post reported.
These clashes have spread to areas including Paveh, Marivan, and Mahabad, according to Kurdish-focused media account Rojhelat.Info. The Paveh attack was claimed by a newly formed group called Xore Heva, or "Sun of Hope," which stated it was retaliation for Iran's crackdown on protests following the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish woman who died after being detained by Iran's morality police.
Jino Victoria Doabi, Head of International Relation at Hiwa, a Kurdish-led human rights organization, suggested the recent events could signify more than isolated incidents. "It looks like this could be an escalation," Doabi told Fox News Digital, noting the geographic spread of the reported clashes. She argued that while the initial attack was framed as retaliation, the broader distribution indicated a potential continuation of the confrontation.
Doabi indicated that Kurdish discontent stems not only from recent casualties but also from a perception that Iran has systematically targeted Kurdish areas and opposition groups without significant repercussions. "The Kurdish people in Iran are very dissatisfied that the IRGC can attack Kurdish parties and Kurdish fighters and no one reacts," she said.
The Kurdish population, one of the largest stateless ethnic groups in the Middle East, is spread across Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. In Iran, many Kurds reside in the western and northwestern mountainous regions, where Kurdish opposition groups have long alleged political repression, executions, forced assimilation, and military crackdowns by Iranian authorities. Conversely, Iranian officials classify armed Kurdish factions as separatist or terrorist threats, particularly groups like PJAK, which has engaged in long-standing clashes with the IRGC along Iran's western border. These conflicts are driven by Kurdish demands for rights and autonomy, Iran's concerns over separatism, and the IRGC's role in suppressing dissent in border regions.
The current violence emerges as Iran is proceeding with a memorandum of understanding with Washington, a development that has drawn criticism from Iranian opposition circles. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian stated that Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei had approved the U.S.–Iran memorandum after receiving assurances that Iran's rights would be protected, according to IranWire. While Iranian officials have presented the agreement as having high-level support, critics within Iran have reportedly attacked negotiators over the arrangement.
Doabi expressed deep skepticism from Kurdish parties regarding any memorandum of understanding or negotiated settlement with Iran, asserting that many Kurds believe such agreements would strengthen the regime. "Kurdish parties do not believe that making a deal with this regime can help the people in Iran," Doabi said. "Their position is that a deal would only strengthen the regime."
She added that many Kurds in Iran are "very angry" about the prospect of any agreement with Iran, citing decades of repression, arrests, and killings in Kurdish areas. "It is going to be very dangerous for people in Iran, and especially in Kurdistan, Azerbaijan and Baluchistan," Doabi warned, "because that is where much of the resistance and activism is."
Among the Kurdish groups facing scrutiny are the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK) and its armed wing, the East Kurdistan Defense Units (YRK). IranWire reported in June that the YRK accused the IRGC of launching artillery and mortar attacks against its positions near Marivan, Iran, beginning June 8, claiming a defensive response. Iranian official outlets had not commented on the YRK's casualty claims at that time.
Previously, in early 2026, reports indicated that Kurdish opposition groups might open a new front against Iran during the U.S.–Israeli conflict with Tehran. Israel had reportedly backed plans by Iranian Kurdish militias to seize border areas within Iran, though Reuters noted that significant advances would likely require U.S. and Israeli support. Five long-standing Iranian dissident groups, including PJAK, the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, and the Kurdistan Freedom Party, had formed an alliance, according to Reuters. At the time, then-President Trump expressed support for Kurdish action against Iran if they aimed to "win," but Kurdish commanders reportedly expressed frustration over a lack of clear U.S. or Israeli strategy, and Iranian threats deterred an incursion. Later reports suggested Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had persuaded Trump to abandon a plan to arm Iranian opposition and Iraqi Kurdish groups against Tehran.
The recent spate of violence does not definitively confirm a coordinated insurgency. However, the reported spread of clashes across multiple Kurdish areas, claims of involvement by Kurdish militant factions, and Kurdish opposition to ongoing U.S.–Iran talks suggest that Iran's western borderlands could become a significant pressure point for Tehran as the regime navigates internal control and fragile diplomatic momentum.