Iran bolsters defenses along Iraqi Kurdistan border amid threat of attacks by US-backed separatists

Iran is facing attacks from Kurdish and Baloch separatists fighting as part of Washington's effort to topple the government of the Islamic Republic

News Desk

OCT 22, 2026

https://thecradle.co/articles/iran-bolsters-defenses-along-iraqi-kurdistan-border-amid-threat-of-attacks-by-us-backed-separatists

Iran has deployed artillery and heavy weaponry to Kurdish areas in the west of the country amid growing fears of a renewed US-Israeli assault and ongoing attacks on Iranian security forces by Kurdish and Baloch separatist groups.

The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) reported Wednesday that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has dispatched military convoys carrying heavy and semi-heavy weapons to several cities in the Kurdish region in Iran's northwest, including Sanandaj, Kamyaran, Sarvabad, Marivan, and Baneh.

An informed source told KHRN that “hundreds of IRGC special forces, believed to be members of the entity's Saberin Unit, have been dispatched over the past few weeks in military convoys to areas surrounding villages on the slopes of Mount Shaho in Kamyaran County.”

The military buildup comes amid reports that the US and Israel have drafted plans for a renewed assault on Iran's nuclear, energy, and defense infrastructure after the November midterm elections in a new bid to force Tehran to negotiate on less favorable terms.

The US continues to impose a naval blockade on Iran, straining the country's economy and harming its ability to export oil.

Washington has dispatched the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group, the USS Makin Island amphibious group, and some 9,000 additional troops to West Asia, US officials revealed on 1 October, reinforcing roughly 50,000 US troops already stationed across the region.

For its part, Iran continues to exert control over the Strait of Hormuz, limiting Gulf oil exports to world markets and driving up energy prices.

In addition to deploying heavy weapons, the IRGC has mobilized thousands of Kurdish fighters to the northwest regions to counter potential cross-border attacks by Kurdish opposition groups based in the Kurdish autonomous region of Iraq.

Numerous reports have emerged since the start of the war on Iran in February that the US and Israel wish to use Iranian Kurdish separatists as part of their broader effort at regime change in Tehran.

On Monday, the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), an Iranian Kurdish separatist group, announced that the IRGC had targeted its bases in the mountainous and forested areas of Marivan in Kurdistan Province the previous day with suicide drones, mortar shells, and heavy weapons.

On Wednesday, the IRGC targeted PJAK bases near Mount Harir in the Iraqi Kurdistan region with Hadid-110 drones.

Iran is also facing attacks from Baloch separatist groups in Sistan-Baluchistan Province in the country's southeast.  

Iranian security forces clashed with members of the Jaish al-Adl group in Zahedan County on 13 October, killing several militants following the launch of an operation in the area.

The day before, gunmen attacked a police station in Sistan and Baluchistan province, resulting in heavy fighting.

Days earlier, over a dozen Iranian military and law enforcement personnel were killed in a series of attacks in the province, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan and is populated mainly by Iran's ethnic Baloch and Sunni Muslim communities. 

Jaish al-Adl was heavily involved in the violent attacks against security forces during the Mossad-backed riots early this year.

Another militant Baloch group, the People's Fighters Front (PFF), has claimed responsibility for recent attacks that took place in Nikshahr, Nusratabad, and Jalaq.

PFF forces attacked a police headquarters using mines, RPG rockets, and various weapons, according to Haalvsh, a monitoring group. Many of these separatist groups are said to receive direct backing from the US as well as from Israel.