What are the reasons for the Iranian bombing of the headquarters of the Kurdish opposition in northern Iraq?

TEHRAN -

After the Iranian security forces have been engaged in armed clashes with Kurdish opposition groups on the common border with Iraq over the past years, the Revolutionary Guards have recently intensified their military operations against what it describes as "separatist terrorist groups that are based in the Iraqi Kurdistan region to destabilize security in Iran."

With the protests that followed the death of the Kurdish young woman, Mahsa Amini, entering its third month, the Revolutionary Guard continues to bombard the headquarters of the Kurdish opposition parties with artillery, missiles, and marches, amid official statements that consider the operations "self-defense" and threaten that Tehran will not tolerate its border security, and will respond to threats. separatist groups.

Iran classifies opposition Kurdish parties based in northern Iraq - such as the Free Life of Kurdistan Party, the Iranian Kurdistan Democratic Party, and the Komala Party - as "armed terrorists", accusing them of working to fragment the country and secede the Kurdish regions from the Islamic Republic.

The reasons for the bombing

Iranian political researcher Hassan Hani Zadeh attributes the reason for the Revolutionary Guards’ bombing of the Kurdish opposition headquarters stationed in northern Iraq to its role in his country’s recent protests, and revealed the infiltration of about 1,200 Kurdish opposition elements across the common borders with the Kurdistan region of Iraq, and their entry into Iranian territory after the death of the young woman, Mahsa Amini, in mid-September. last September.

Hanizadeh revealed - in his interview with Al-Jazeera Net - that Iranian security reports show that these elements were launched from 50 bases belonging to armed groups in northern Iraq, and numbers of them were arrested and they were in possession of dangerous weapons.

He added that the other number is still continuing to "stir up riots and vandalism", realizing that these elements were previously trained by officers of foreign intelligence agencies, especially the Israeli Mossad and the American CIA, he said.

Major General Muhammad Taqi Asanlu, commander of the Hamza headquarters of the Revolutionary Guards in the west of the country, announced last week that more than 100 armed members of the Kurdish opposition parties had been arrested in the recent protests, adding that the Iranian security forces were also able to stop smuggled arms shipments across the common border located in the northwest. country.

The Revolutionary Guards fired a missile during previous military exercises (European-archive)

Threats are neutralized

Hanizadeh added that Tehran has repeatedly communicated with the Iraqi authorities in Baghdad and Erbil, and demanded that these hostile groups be disarmed and expelled from Iraq, but it did not see a serious move to fulfill the bilateral agreements between them, which requires the Iranian armed forces to take practical action to neutralize threats targeting its national security.

The Iranian researcher concluded that his country will continue to target the headquarters of the Kurdish parties until they are completely eliminated or expelled from Iraqi territory, similar to the Mujahideen-e-Khalq elements that were forced to evacuate Camp Ashraf in Diyala in 2013.

In its latest statement, the Revolutionary Guards announced at dawn on Monday that its strikes had caused great damage to what it called "terrorists affiliated with global arrogance in Iraqi Kurdistan," adding that "Iraq must expel groups hostile to us and supported by Washington and Tel Aviv from its territory."

For his part, the Iranian researcher in political affairs, Reza Sadr al-Husseini, sees "the development of the activity of the Kurdish parties opposing Iran and their crossing of the red lines" as a factor behind the renewal of the Revolutionary Guard's operations against them, stressing that these groups have taken hostile steps that threaten Iranian national security that cannot be tolerated.

increased activity

Sadr al-Husseini added, "Investigations by the Iranian security services show that about 30 percent of the rioters in the Iranian Kurdish regions were linked to armed separatist groups, and some of them had received training at the headquarters of Kurdish parties opposing Tehran in northern Iraq."

The Iranian researcher revealed - in his interview with Al-Jazeera Net - that the Iranian and Iraqi sides agreed to disarm these Kurdish groups opposed to Iran during the next ten days, stressing that the fingers of the Revolutionary Guards will remain on the trigger until the threat of these separatist groups is neutralized.

He pointed out that the protests of the Kurdish regions bordering the Iraqi Kurdistan region were more violent compared to other Iranian regions, as they amounted to the liquidation of a number of Iranian security personnel and the burning of their homes, attributing the reason to the propaganda campaigns carried out by the Kurdish opposition in some cities in western Iran.

Sadr Al-Husseini explained that during the past two months, it became clear that a number of relatives of the Kurdish young woman, Mahsa Amini, who died after her arrest at the headquarters of the Iranian morality police, were in official relations with the Kurdish parties opposing Tehran, and their positions - after they left the country - poured oil on the fire of the protests. .

Regarding the repercussions of the continued Iranian bombing of the headquarters of Kurdish parties opposing Tehran on Iraqi soil, and whether its repetition would harm relations between the two neighboring countries, the Iranian researcher said that contacts are continuing between Tehran and Baghdad, and that "the operations only intend to repel the threat against Iran and dismantle the strongholds of terrorist groups." As he says.