Several years ago, I was standing on a street in Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Erbil is a busy city that is laid out in concentric circles of large roads. It looks kind of like a giant wheel from above. At its center is an ancient old city built on a hill. I was standing on one of the many streets that are lined with shops, waiting for a ride. I didn’t know what kind of car was supposed to appear or even what the driver would look like.
Eventually, a car appeared. A man in fatigues with a mustache got out. He didn’t seem to speak English, but he was here to take me to “the general.” I got in. The man took off his belt and put it between us. On the belt was a snub-nosed revolver, the kind one might have seen in 1970s movies about cops in New York City.
The man drove the car quickly through Erbil’s busy streets. Soon we were outside the city, heading south. A large green banner lined the road with an image of the late Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani.
South of Erbil, the traffic was reduced to near-zero. We pulled off the major road that leads from Erbil south to the city of Kirkuk.
The day was hot, even though it was in September. In the distance, smoke was rising, apparently from a fire near an oil well. This is oil country. Parts of Iraq sit on an ocean of oil. There are gas flares in this country, associated with the drilling for oil.
The traffic picked up a bit. In front of us was a Rexton white SUV, covered with Kurdish flags. Even the white license plate had been covered over with the red, green, and white of the Kurdish flag, which also has a yellow sun emblazoned on it.
Quiet since the war with ISIS
We came to a stop on the side of the road near a small village that seemed to consist of small one-story stone houses. Poor and quiet. Not much had changed here in many years.
Now, a second SUV came, and we switched vehicles. Eventually, down some winding roads through a village and then out over some high plains and up a dirt road to a line of hills, we came to a stop.
This area had been a front line during the war on ISIS. Now it was quiet. The general came to greet us. His name was Hussein Yazdanpanah, and he wore fatigues like the men I’d been driving with. He also had a patch on his arm with orange and white on it. This was the symbol of the Kurdistan Freedom Party or PAK. It is one of many Kurdish parties and groups that oppose the Iranian regime.
Yazdanpanah is a well-known face in the Kurdistan region. He has a large mustache and had been fighting ISIS since 2014 alongside other Kurdish forces. Outspoken and brave, he is respected by his peers. I’d met him several times during the war on ISIS. Now, with that war largely over in 2017, he was talking about the threat of Iran and Iranian-backed militias.
Nine years after that meeting, Yazdanpanah, who doesn’t look like he has aged in all these years, went to a meeting with other Kurdish leaders who oppose the Iranian regime.
Before entering a hall where he and the Kurds would give a statement, Yazdanpanah walked with Mustafa Hijri, the leader of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI). Instead of his fatigues, which he had worn during the war on ISIS, Yazdanpanah and the other Kurdish leaders were dressed in Kurdish clothes, a kind of formal jacket and loose pants joined with a sash at the waist.
The struggle of Iranian Kurds
The Kurdish opposition groups in Iran have been struggling against the regime for decades. They also have deep ideological differences. The PAK, which was founded in 1991, is not as well-known as some of the other groups. For instance, the PDKI was founded in 1945. The Kurdistan Freedom Life Party (PJAK) was founded in 2004, but its roots are older.
It is linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party. The Khabat Organization of Iranian Kurdistan (Khabat) was founded in 1980 and is a more religious party than the others. The Komala Party of Kurdistan has also been around since the 1980s, although it has several branches that are more recent. It is a left-wing party with links to communism.
These Kurdish parties are active in Iran, and many of them are also active in the Kurdish diaspora, particularly in the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq, where many Kurds from Iran have fled over the years.
The diversity of the Kurdish parties and their complex ideological roots have meant that unity among them against the Iranian regime has always been a challenge. PAK, for instance, chose to fight ISIS and join with the Peshmerga of the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq after 2014.
They believed their men and women fighters would gain valuable experience on the front line. Other Kurdish parties chose a different path. Over the years, the PDKI has continued to train its fighters. It has also said it has sent them into Iran. PJAK also holds training sessions in the mountains of Kurdistan.
Over the last several years, these Kurdish groups have felt a need to work more closely together. For instance, the death of Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, also known as Jina, galvanized Kurds to protest the regime in 2022. It was a Kurdish slogan of “Woman, Life, Freedom” that echoed across Iran in the wake of her death at the hands of Iranian authorities.
Recent developments and growing unity
In the last months, the Kurdish groups began to work more closely as part of what they called a “Dialogue Center.” In late December, protests broke out in Iran. The Kurdish parties backed the protests. Iran cracked down on January 7, killing tens of thousands of protesters. This led the Kurdish parties to decide on a display of unity.
The February 22, 2026, meeting, which saw Yazdanpanah, Hijri, and leaders from Komala, Khabat, and PJAK gather for a press conference, is the clearest indication that the Kurdish groups expect that they may soon be seeing combat in Iran. They want to coordinate before this happens.
“For decades, the political and national movement of Iranian Kurdistan has fought in an organized and continuous manner against centralist dictatorship and tyranny, in defense of its national and political rights.
“Even after the 1979 Revolution and the establishment of the Islamic Republic, Kurdistan remained at the forefront of resistance and struggle against this repressive regime.
“During this period, Kurdistan has paid a heavy price for its resistance: wars were imposed, political leaders were executed and assassinated, and thousands of political activists were martyred or lost their lives in prisons. The region was militarized and occupied, and administered through policies of repression, plunder, and looting by the Islamic Republic government,” a statement from PDKI noted.
Of the five Kurdish leaders at the meeting, only PJAK was represented by a woman. Peyman Viyan, the PJAK representative, spoke to The NewRegion after the meeting.
“Viyan explained that the coalition was formed to improve political coordination among the parties, unify their positions, and establish a stronger, more unified voice for Kurdish political movements in Iran,” a post on social media by Rojhelat.Info noted. Rojhelat is the Kurdish name for Eastern Kurdistan, the Kurdish regions in Iran.
While the Kurdish Iranian groups are coming together, there are concerns in Erbil about repercussions. Erbil has sought to distance itself from the meeting, saying that it does not want to get involved in tensions with Iran. Meanwhile, Iranian-backed militias in Iraq have threatened Erbil with attacks. The Kurdish region of Iraq is now on edge, as US-Iran tensions appear to spiral.
In addition, Kurdish parties in Iraq are now seeking to choose a new president for Iraq and are in talks with Shi’ite parties about what comes next for the country. Iraq had elections in November, but has not chosen a new prime minister. US Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack, who appears to be playing a larger role in Iraq, was in Baghdad and Erbil on February 22 and 23. Many wheels are in motion.
As the Kurdish parties gathered, I recalled fond memories interviewing members of the PAK and PDKI in the past. They have faced incredible hardships. They have persevered. Now they sense that their moment has arrived.