Why Iran's Kurdish front is becoming a growing wartime concern
A Friday Iranian strike on a Kurdish dissident base underscores Tehran's concern that its oldest internal security challenge has now become a wartime vulnerability.
TEHRAN — Iran's armed forces reported carrying out a missile strike on Friday, pounding the headquarters of the Komala Toilers of Kurdistan Party near Sulaimaniyah in neighboring Iraqi Kurdistan and killing at least nine members of the group.
Confirmed by the exiled organization as well, the multiple missiles struck the group's base in Zirgwez, while authorities in Iraq's Kurdistan Region said several projectiles also landed in nearby locations.
While the attack may, at first glance, appear as another episode in Iran's long-running campaign against Kurdish militants, the timing suggests more significant dynamics.
Whether viewed as a tactical military operation or part of a broader campaign, the strike points to a deeper strategic concern inside Tehran: the possibility that war with the United States could reopen one of the Islamic Republic's oldest security issues — the Kurdish question.
