ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran’s mission to the United Nations on Wednesday reiterated its justification for military action against Kurdish opposition groups based in the Kurdistan Region, in a letter to the Security Council, saying that Tehran was left with no choice but to use force where diplomacy had failed.
Iran's state media reported that in the letter, Iran stated that its territory has been the target of Iranian-Kurdish opposition groups - the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), Komala, and the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK) - for over 40 years and that the groups have launched “violent attacks” against Iranian infrastructure from their bases in the Kurdistan Region.
Tehran claimed that the groups were responsible for numerous attacks on Iran, posing a threat to civilian life in Iran. It also urged neighboring Iraq to act as a “responsible member” of the UN and prevent the groups from targeting Iranian territory and threatening national security, while reiterating Iran’s commitment to “the sovereignty, independence, unity, and territorial integrity of Iraq.”
It added that Iran has repeatedly called upon Iraq and the Kurdistan Region to expel the opposition groups from their territory.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) last month showered with ballistic missiles and suicide drones bases of the groups in the Kurdistan Region under the pretext of fueling protests across the country.
At least 16 people, including one child, were killed and over 50 injured in the Iranian strikes on the Kurdistan Region, according to data collected by Rudaw.
Nationwide protests erupted in Iran on September 16, condemning the death of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini while in police custody. The Oslo-based Iran Human Rights Organization (IHR) said on Tuesday that at least 154 people have been killed during the demonstrations.
Iranian-Kurdish opposition groups based in the Kurdistan Region have waged an on-and-off armed war against the Iranian government since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
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