Topic summary
Western Iran clashes (2016–2023)
Iran- CCIKPP
PDKI- HDK (until 2022)
Khebat
Komala–PIK
PAK
PJAK- Komala–KTP
Komala–CPI- Anti-government protesters
- Alleged support:
Saudi Arabia
Ebrahim Raisi
Hassan Rouhani
Mohammad Bagheri
Ataollah Salehi
Abdolrahim Mousavi
Ahmad Reza Pourdastan
Kioumars Heydari
Hassan Shahsafi
Aziz Nasirzadeh
Hamid Vahedi
Mohammad Ali Jafari
Hossein Salami
Mohammad Pakpour
Hossein Ashtari
Ahmad-Reza Radan
Mahmoud Alavi
Esmaeil Khatib
Shakiba Salimi †
Mustafa Hijri Khalid Azizi Qadir Qadri † Sabah Rahmani †
Abdullah Mohtadi
Ibrahim Alizade Omar Ilkhanizade Abdullah Konaposhi
Hussein Yazdanpanah
Siamand Moini Zîlan Vejîn HDK Peshmerga PDKI Peshmerga Komala Peshmerga HAK-R
YRK- KDPI: 1,000–1,500
- HDK: 500 – 900
- Komala: <1,000
- PJAK: <3,000
- PAK: 100–900
Basiji 2–9 killed
Border guards: 6 killed
PDKI 20+ to 33–40 killed
Komala 3 killed
Unidentified 3 killed
PJAK 12–13 to 17 killed
14 Iranian civilians killed
6 Iraqi Kurdistan civilians wounded
5 Kurdish activists executed
Hundreds displaced
Total: 75–82 to 157–161+ armed men killed; and 19 Iranian and Iraqi civilians killed or executed
Kurdish rebels claim
The Western Iran clashes (2016–2023) were military clashes between Kurdish opposition groups and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that began in April 2016 and largely subsided in 2023, when Kurdish groups relocated away from the Iran–Iraq border. Initiated by the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI), the clashes intensified when the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK) and Komalah joined the fight. In parallel, a leftist Iranian Kurdish rebel group, the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), resumed military activities against Iran in 2016, following a long period of stalemate.
The 2016 clashes came following a background of what the PDKI described as "growing discontent in Rojhelat (Iranian Kurdistan)". A commander of the PAK's military wing described their engagement and declaration of hostilities against the Iranian government were due to the fact that "the situation in eastern Kurdistan had become unbearable, especially with the daily arbitrary executions against the Kurds [in Iran]."