Iranian authorities are struggling to address smuggling in border areas, and particularly the Kurdish region, where local economies are in tatters after decades of government neglect and discriminatory policies. Thousands of Kurds carry illegal goods into the country from Iraqi Kurdistan for a fee in order to provide for their families, in operations commonly organized by wealthy smuggling rings in Tehran and other big cities. The Kurdish men are known as "kolbar" — porters crossing the remote mountains between Iraqi and Iranian Kurdistan with goods smuggled on their backs.
The Iranian government was expected to finally take action on the issue last year as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made a rare intervention. “Be determined in fighting smuggling. When I say smuggling, I don’t mean a poor kolbar from Baluchistan who goes to the other side of the border and carries a thing on his back to this side. … This is not important, it won't matter even if you don’t confront them," Khamenei told officials last year. "I am talking about big coordinated smuggling [rings]; we need to fight them, we are the state, we have the power.”
But despite the supreme leader’s warning, the numbers of kolbar killed by Iranian border guards are rising fast. In the early hours of July 1, a group of eight kolbar was operating in the border area near the Iranian town of Baneh when the kolbar came under fire from border guards. One kolbar was reportedly killed and another suffered serious head injuries. Incidents such as these have become a weekly occurrence in the Kurdish areas in western Iran. In 2016, at least 49 kolbar were either killed by direct fire from Iranian border guards or due to natural incidents such as avalanches. In comparison, the first six months of this year have seen at least 40 kolbar killed and 87 others wounded. The renewed violence between Kurdish militants and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in these border areas is another factor that is contributing to the rising number of casualties, as the kolbar face the risk of being caught in the occasional crossfire.
Border smuggling is big business in Iran. It is estimated that kolbar carry $3.6 billion worth of goods into the country each year. While significant, some experts consider this figure to constitute only some 30% of the value of the goods that enter Iranian markets without payment of duties and tariffs.
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