The Iran IRGC forces warned they will continue attacks on bases in neighboring Iraq until Kurdish rebels they accuse of spreading unrest nationwide are disarmed.
The Iran IRGC force launched a barrage of missile and drone strikes on Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region on Wednesday, killing 14 people, including a US citizen.
In a statement late Thursday, the Guards said they were using “all kinds of missiles, kamikaze and combat drones” in the operations against bases and headquarters of what they called “terrorists.”
“These operations will continue until the terrorist groups are disarmed and we ask the central government and the government of the northern region of Iraq to show more seriousness in their responsibilities towards Iran as a neighbor,” the statement added.
The Iran IRGC forces accused Iraq-based Kurdish groups of “attacking and infiltrating Iran… to sow insecurity and riots, and spread unrest.”
The IRGC attacks against the Parti Azadi Kurdistan, aka PAK (Kurdistan Freedom Party) have killed five and injured several others.
The IRGC claims its Ground Force has used pinpoint accuracy missiles and suicide drones to attack the positions in Iraqi Kurdistan which “played the most important role in the recent riots in Iran.”
On Wednesday, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said Washington “strongly condemns” Iran’s “brazen attacks” across the border, followed by Germany’s rejection of “attempts to locate the causes of the Iranian protests in” Iraq.
A wave of unrest has rocked Iran since Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old from Iran’s Kurdistan province, died three days after her arrest by the morality police in Tehran for allegedly not observing the mandatory dress code for women.
Street violence led to the deaths of dozens of people – mostly protesters but also members of the security forces – and thousands of arrests.
Protests have been particularly well observed in Kurdish communities in western Iran that share strong connections with Kurdish-inhabited areas of Iraq.