Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Reports Drone Attack on Kurdish Democratic Party Headquarters

The Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran, led by Mostafa Hejri, reported that a drone from the Islamic Republic's military attacked its forces in the 'Kudo Mountains' in the border area between Iran and Iraq. In a statement on its website, the party announced that at noon on Sunday, October 1, a 'drone bombed the Kudo Mountains,' resulting in one of its members being 'slightly injured.' This mountain range is located near the city of Piranshahr in West Azerbaijan Province. Iranian officials have not yet responded to this announcement. Mostafa Hejri is the executive officer of the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran, and Mostafa Moloudi is the party's secretary-general. On September 8, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targeted the headquarters of the Kurdish Democratic Party, led by Mostafa Moloudi, in Iraq with missile strikes, reportedly leaving 14 dead and at least 40 injured. Iraq has called this action a 'violation of its sovereignty.' Following this attack, Mohammad Hossein Baqeri, the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of Iran, called on the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government to expel armed Kurdish groups from the region. The spokesperson for the Kurdistan Regional Government rejected this request, stating that the conflict between the Islamic Republic and Kurdish groups does not have a military solution. On the same Sunday as the attack on the Kurdish Democratic Party's positions, local parliamentary elections were held in Iraqi Kurdistan. Since 2016, after armed Kurdish opposition parties reported their military forces operating 'on a larger scale' in 'most areas' of Iranian Kurdistan, clashes between these parties and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have increased. The Islamic Republic refers to its armed opposition groups in western provinces of Iran, including armed Kurdish parties, as 'terrorist groups' or 'counter-revolutionaries.' However, these groups claim that their armed struggle against the Islamic Republic is aimed at 'defending Kurdish rights.' In this context, strikes in Kurdish areas of Iran protesting the execution of Kurdish youths have been noted, and Jaafari described missile attacks on the Kurdish Democratic Party's headquarters as 'a message to superpowers.'