US air defence systems intercepting attacks on Iranian Kurdish groups
US air defences are intercepting missiles targeting Iranian Kurds, according to the Kurdish Freedom Party (PAK).
“The US has reinforced air defence systems in Erbil to protect the area, its forces and its allies,” PAK spokesperson Khalil Naderi told Middle East Eye.
“Though these defences are in operation, they haven’t fully met the requirements for aerial defences across Kurdistan. Last night, we lost one Kurdish peshmerga [fighter] and three others were wounded,” Naderi said.
Despite this, Iranian drone and missile attacks on a PAK base in Erbil province injured four people on Friday.
Based in exile in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq, the PAK is part of a coalition of five major Iranian Kurdish opposition parties formed on 22 February, just a week before the US-Israeli war on Iran began.
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The coalition - comprising the PDKI, PJAK, Komala, the Khabat organisation and the PAK - was formed with the stated aim of working together towards “the overthrow of the Islamic Republic of Iran”.
“We hope that the region will be safe from Iranian attacks, and in case of an operation inside Iranian Kurdistan, Rojhelat [the Kurdish region of Iran] could be likewise protected against the Islamic Republic,” Naderi said of the US defence systems.
Iran targets Kurdish opposition bases
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Tuesday that it used about 30 drones to strike Kurdish opposition groups based in the Kurdistan region, vowing a “decisive and rapid confrontation”.
On Friday, a senior Iranian official warned the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) that “all facilities” could be targeted “on a massive scale” if Iranian Kurdish opposition parties based in the region entered Iran.
A PAK base in Erbil’s Koya district was hit by a ballistic missile on Wednesday, killing at least one person. A member of the PAK told MEE at the base that it had been hit several times and told MEE and two other journalists to leave the site quickly for fear of another strike.
Despite US air defences intercepting missiles, some Kurdish sources believe this is not a sign of long-lasting US plans to protect the Kurdish opposition parties it is considering using for regime change in Iran.
'Essentially, the US has made the decision that regime change is non-negotiable and that giving the Kurds as much as they can ... is now a critical part of the mission objective for both the US and Israel'
- Former Kurdish intelligence official
“It is not about the Iranian Kurds, it's about the expansion of the Patriot system,” one PAK official said, referring to the US air defence system.
Ranj Talabani, a former intelligence official at the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan’s (PUK) Zanyari agency, said that before this year, “unfortunately, the defensive systems were only for the protection of Erbil airport and US assets in the region”.
This, Talabani believes, has changed. “Now it is clear that there is as much protection as can be given to whatever assets are deployed,” Talabani said, referring to the expansion of the use of these defences.
Far more protection is being afforded to Kurdish groups now, following the start of the war on Iran, than in the past.
In September 2022, Iran fired dozens of missiles and drones at Kurdish groups in Iraqi Kurdistan, killing at least 16 people during the widespread protests in Iran that erupted after the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman, in police custody.
Then, in January 2024, Iranian ballistic missile strikes on Erbil killed Kurdish businessman Peshraw Dizayee and others, including his one-year-old child. The lack of US protection sparked criticism in Erbil that Kurdish lives were not being protected.
But during the dozens of Iranian attacks on Kurdish groups that have been launched since 28 February, only one person has been killed, indicating that US defence systems are taking down drones and missiles aimed at Iranian Kurds.
Kurdish fighters could enter Iran
Rumours that Kurdish fighters will enter Iran continue to swirl.
US President Donald Trump told Reuters on Thursday that it would be “wonderful” if Iranian Kurdish forces crossed into Iran from Iraqi Kurdistan to launch attacks on security forces there.
There has been behind-the-scenes communication between US and Kurdish officials exploring options.
One Kurdish source said that “there have been meetings but I'm not sure if it was with intelligence agencies or the military”.
“We peshmergas are not yet involved in war with the Islamic Republic - not yet,” Mustafa Mawloudi, deputy secretary general of the opposition Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (PDKI), told MEE. “We have heard ideas, but again, we have not taken a decision to intervene in this war.”
Former Kurdish intelligence official Talabani said, however, that the conversation has gone beyond the point of no return as far as Trump is concerned.
“Essentially, the US has made the decision that regime change is not negotiable and that giving the Kurds as much as they can in order for them to succeed in liberating the Kurdish areas is now a critical part of the mission objective for both the US and Israel,” he told MEE.
Mohammed A Salih, a non-resident senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, which is based in Philadelphia, said that at the very least Iranian Kurds were happy to have some air cover in Iraqi Kurdistan. “The US air defence system is now well established in Kurdistan and covers areas outside the US military and diplomatic facilities,” Salih said.
“This has made a tremendous difference and has helped protect many lives. It also speaks to the strength of the relationship between the US and Kurdistan region - something that needs to be further solidified and be made a multi-dimensional permanent partnership.”
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