IRGC officer killed in Iran-Iraq border mountains as fighting with Kurdish opposition intensifies

The death of a captain in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is leading to questions about rumors of increasing clashes between Iran and a Kurdish opposition group in the mountains on the Iran-Iraq border. The Rudaw media network reported on December 19 that the IRGC officer “was killed in the Qandil mountain range along the Iran-Iraq border on Saturday, according to a local news outlet affiliated with the Guards, amid heightened tensions between Iranian forces and Kurdish opposition groups operating in the border region.”

Qandil mountain range is known as an area of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) activity. The PKK has had bases there in northern Iraq. “Captain Sina Ahmadi was killed on Saturday, Fateh Urmia reported, without providing details about the circumstances of his death,” Rydaw noted. The IRGC has not said how the officer was killed. However, they are saying he was a “martyr.” Fars News, which is considered close to the IRGC, reported on the death of the soldier.

The mysterious death is leading to rumors and questions. Ahmadi was from West Azerbaijan province, the report at Rudaw says. There are a half dozen Kurdish Iranian opposition groups that operate in Iran. One of them is called the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK) and it is considered affiliated with the PKK. It is essentially seen as the Kurdish Iranian branch of the PKK. This is a norm for the PKK to establish local affiliates and branches. For instance, in Syria the local group linked to the PKK is called the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the Yazidi group is called the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS).

There are many changes in the region at this time as the PKK has a peace process with Turkey. This is aimed at ending decades of war. Recently the PKK leader Murat Karayilan gave an interview to The Amargi media outlet about the group’s next steps. He didn’t mention PJAK in the interview, but did note that Iran is currently in a conflict with the US and Israel. He compared that to wider global and regional conflicts.

IRGC intensifies attacks against Kurdish opposition groups

Rudaw suggested that the death of the IRGC officer “comes as the IRGC has intensified military operations against the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), an Iranian Kurdish opposition group, in the Shaho mountain range in western Iran.”

The reports indicate that Iran has moved artillery into the mountain areas and is using drones to monitor and carry out strikes.

Iran has also carried out attacks against Kurdish Iranian opposition groups in the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq. It has struck Komala, PDKI and Khabat groups in recent weeks.

Why hasn’t it struck PJAK? There are questions about why the IRGC doesn’t seem as capable against PJAK or carry out strikes on the PKK. Some have suggested in the past that the PKK had some kind of accommodation with Iran. On the other hand it could also be that Iran has found it easier to program its one-way attack drones to strike at known camps and sites of the other Kurdish groups in the Kurdistan Region.

This is because groups such as PDKI maintain camps in places near Koya. These camps are well known and coordinates can be put into a drone by Iran. However, fighting insurgents in the mountains is harder. The PKK has long known this and its fighters have used the mountains for years to fight Turkey. Turkey’s army is more modern and capable than the Iranian army or IRGC.

Iranian operations in Shaho mountain range increase

What is known about Iran’s operations in the mountains of northwestern Iran is that Iran is increasing operations in the Shaho range of mountains in areas of the western Kermanshah and Kurdistan provinces, in the Hawraman region. Rudaw notes that “PJAK maintains mobile armed units in the Kurdish areas of western Iran and has been involved in a long-running conflict with Iranian security forces.” It also says that the IRGC targeted an area in Marivan in Iran. This comes as PJAK’s fighters, who are affiliated with the Eastern Kurdistan Units (YRK) continue to say they have a "legitimate right to self-defense.”

A recent report at Iran Wire noted that “heavy clashes broke out on Thursday, October 15, 2026, between forces of the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK) and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the heights of the Shaho Mountains and surrounding areas.” It said that an “informed source stated that following a drone strike and bombardment targeting the positions of PJAK’s military wing, the IRGC faced counterattacks from the party’s forces, prompting an intensification of artillery and drone strikes in the region.”

Meanwhile in the KRG in northern Iraq the Kurdish authorities are concerned about Iran’s threats. They want the Kurdish groups to reduce tensions and not use their area for attacks on Iran. PDKI recently said it would refrain from sending fighters across the border. In Baghdad, Rudaw said that “Iranian Ambassador to Baghdad Mohammed Kazem Al-e Sadegh claimed Monday that Iraq has agreed to either expel Iranian Kurdish opposition groups based in the Kurdistan Region from the country or hand them over to Tehran, following a joint security meeting in Baghdad.”

"As part of security cooperation between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of Iraq, both sides agreed during a joint security meeting, which the Iranian delegation and the Iraqi national security advisor attended, on expelling separatist... groups from the Kurdistan Region or handing them over to Iran," Al-e Sadegh wrote in a post on X/Twitter.

Iran is clearly pushing hard to get the Kurdish groups to be reined in by Iraq. Iran’s Press TV reported the same information about an agreement between Tehran and Baghdad. Press TV, which is affiliated with the regime in Iran said the agreement comes  as Iran continues “mop-up operations against the main bastions and headquarters of the anti-Iran terrorist groups in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region, and to expel the separatists from the area.” The report included a photo of PJAK, indicating Iran seeks to defeat this group.