Iran Attacks Peshmerga in Iraqi Kurdistan

Iran claims heavy damage on Kurds

After weeks of relative calm on the border, Iran has once again struck Peshmerga in Iraqi Kurdistan, claiming them to be separatist elements.

One Peshmerga was confirmed killed, and a Kurdish political leader said several were slain. Iranian semi-official media claimed 26 killed.

Iran has accused several foreign factions of fueling unrest, and has targeted the Kurds over this several times, likely because they’re conveniently close. The US, predictably, faulted Iran’s strike and claimed it was threatening  Iraq’s stability.

Iraq said that it “strongly” condemned the Iranian strikes as a sovereignty violation, as well as Turkish airstrikes that targeted Iraqi Kurdistan a day earlier.

Unrest in Iran recently has centered on gender equality. The strikes are meant within Iran to show hardliners that something is being done to foreign instigators, though in practice very little seems to be accomplished.

The lack of progress is why the Iranian government is also cracking down on women involved in the protests. So far, that isn’t working any better, and shows the conservative government struggling to impose order.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.