ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), an Iranian Kurdish opposition group with a significant armed presence in western Iran (Rojhelat), warned the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Saturday that it would exercise its “right to self-defense” if attacks on its positions continued.
The warning follows an IRGC operation on Tuesday in the Shaho mountains of western Iran, where Iranian forces reportedly deployed heavy weapons and kamikaze drones to target PJAK fighters. No casualties have been reported.
The escalation comes amid Iran's ongoing war with the US and repeated Iranian drone and missile attacks on Kurdish opposition groups based in the Kurdistan Region.
The Eastern Kurdistan Units (YRK), PJAK's armed wing, warned in a statement on Saturday that it would respond to further attacks by the IRGC.
“We will exercise our legitimate right to self-defense and deliver the necessary response” if attacks continue, it warned.
The warning comes as Iran faces armed insurgencies on two fronts, involving Kurdish fighters in the west and Baloch armed groups in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan.
The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) reported on Friday that the IRGC had continued shelling and drone attacks in the Shaho mountains in the Hawraman area of Sarvabad County.
Witnesses told the rights group that several explosions caused by suicide drones were heard in the Daleh Marz and Bareza Lang areas, while IRGC reconnaissance drones flew over the mountains.
Mount Shaho is part of the Zagros mountain range, which stretches approximately 1,600 kilometers across western Iran and into the Kurdistan Region.
The protected mountainous area has repeatedly come under Iranian bombardment in recent years, causing forest fires and environmental damage.
The latest attacks follow an expansion of Iranian security forces' presence in Kurdish areas since the first quarter of this year, coinciding with the outbreak of the US-Iran war.
The clashes in western and southeastern Iran come as Tehran faces mounting military and economic pressure amid its confrontation with Washington in the Strait of Hormuz.
A US-imposed naval blockade, in place since mid-July, has severely disrupted Iranian oil exports, further straining the country's economy.
