Muhamad Amini

Less than 48 hours after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commanders threatened Kurdish opposition parties living in the Iraqi Kurdistan region, their positions in the border areas of Iraqi Kurdistan were attacked on Thursday.

The headquarters of some Iranian Kurdish parties in the Barbzin  and Alana districts of Erbil province in Iraq were attacked by Revolutionary Guards artillery and suicide drones.

Although these attacks did not cause any casualties, they did damage the pastures, forests and gardens of the mentioned areas.

On Monday, September 6, Mohammad Pakpour, commander of the ground forces of the Revolutionary Guards, announced that they were attacking the bases of the Kurdish opposition parties in Iraqi Kurdistan.

 Also on Wednesday, September 8, Mohammad Taghi Osanloo, commander of the Hamza camp, reiterated the same threat and called on local residents of Iraqi Kurdistan to stay away from the headquarters and bases of Kurdish opposition parties in Iran.

The threats and attacks come on the third anniversary of the Revolutionary Guards missile attack on the headquarters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDP) in Koi Sanjeq, in which 17 members of the Democratic Party were killed and about 50 people were injured.

In previous Iranian attacks on Kurdish party headquarters, the pretext was to attack members of these parties in the interior of Iranian Kurdistan, but this time, no clashes or attacks have been reported by these parties.

Therefore, we must go to other factors to understand the cause of these attacks.

internal factors:

Rising public discontent in Iran against inflation, unemployment, political repression, and declining legitimacy of the Iranian government, especially the events of the past three years, and the bloody demonstrations and low turnout in the recent presidential election are all factors that point to the fact that “Iran’s sovereignty is facing the worst crisis in 42 years.”

In order to project this internal crisis to the outside world, inciting war can be one of the strategies of the Iranian rulers.

By repeating their statements about the threat of security and territorial integrity by the opposition parties, they are trying to keep the anger of the Iranian people away from the difficult economic situation and political suffocation, and by diverting public opinion from real internal problems by creating a new crisis. Forget it or at least make it look faint.

Regional status:

Iran’s attacks on Kurdish party headquarters coincide with the US decision to deploy a drone strike force in the Persian Gulf.

This force can play an important role in curbing the attacks of Iran and its proxy forces in the Gulf.

On the other hand, Israel’s plan to establish a ” Gulf NATO ” and enhance the level of political, military and security cooperation between the country and the Gulf states has caused great concern to Iran.

Despite all this, Iranian Kurdish parties and the Kurdish people are the most political and organized part of Iranian society.

Therefore, Thursday’s attacks on the positions of the Kurdish forces in Iran, if on the one hand it is a clear message to these parties, on the other hand it is a military maneuver in response to the new plans of the United States and Israel.