Armed Kurdish separatist groups sought to cross the border into Iran from Iraq, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, in a sign of foreign entities potentially seeking to take advantage of instability after days of crackdown on protests against Tehran.
The three sources, who included a senior Iranian official and who all spoke on condition of anonymity, said Turkey's intelligence agency had warned Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) of the Kurdish fighters crossing the frontier in recent days.
The Iranian official said the IRGC had clashed with the Kurdish fighters, who the official said sought to create instability and take advantage of the protests. The Guards are an elite force that has suppressed previous bouts of unrest in Iran.
The Turkish intelligence agency MIT did not immediately comment on the issue, nor did the presidency in Ankara. Turkey, which deems Kurdish militants in northern Iraq terrorists, has warned in recent days that any foreign intervention in Iran would escalate regional crises.
The fighters had been dispatched from Iraq and Turkey, the Iranian official said, adding that Tehran has asked those countries to halt any transfer of fighters or weapons to Iran.
Fundamental mismatch between state identity and population
Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK) leader Hussein Yazdanpana told The Jerusalem Post on January 6 that what is unfolding in Iran is not merely an economic crisis, but the manifestation of a far deeper political one.
Yazdanpana said that Iran is suffering from a fundamental mismatch between the identity of the state and that of its population, drawing parallels to the crises that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union and plunged Yugoslavia into war and genocide.
Since the latest wave of unrest erupted, PAK has called for an emergency meeting of Rojhelat’s political parties, urging immediate and unified action around a joint Kurdish strategy to defend the region. Rojhelat is home to more than 14 million Kurds and is Iran’s most heavily militarized region.
Susan Quitaz contributed to this report.