TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has attacked positions in northern Iraq controlled by Kurdish groups, as anti-government protests continue in Iran’s Kurdish-majority western regions and elsewhere.
The elite force’s floor department showed Monday morning that it had attacked three areas of Iraq’s northern Kurdish region with missiles and drones and inflicted “serious damage” on two Kurdish teams that Tehran considers “terrorist” organizations.
The semi-official website Tasnim, which is close to the IRGC, cited local resources as saying 26 members of Komala’s teams and the Iranian Kurdistan Democratic Party were killed in the attacks.
U. S. Central Command The U. S. government condemned the cross-border strikes in a statement, violating Iraqi sovereignty and “endangering the security and stability of Iraq and the Middle East. “
The IRGC has attacked positions it says have been held through the teams since protests began in Iran more than two months ago, saying they smuggle weapons into the country and conduct operations to destabilize it.
The attack comes days after IRGC Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani traveled to Iraq for high-level meetings, and after repeated warnings from Tehran to Baghdad to disarm or move the groups.
Protests erupted across Iran in mid-September after the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman from Saqqez in Iran’s Kurdistan Province, who was arrested through the country’s vice police in Tehran for allegedly violating the country’s dress code. for women.
In recent days, protests have been of maximum intensity in Kurdish-majority northwestern provinces, with videos from several cities, including Mahabad, Bukan and Piranshahr in West Azerbaijan and Javanrud in Kermanshah.
In Mahabad, several videos circulating online, which can be independently verified, showed a convoy of heavy armored vehicles allegedly deployed by Iranian authorities, while the sound of gunfire can only be heard in some videos and others showed helicopters flying overhead.
The IRGC showed on a Sunday that it was “beefing” its forces in the country’s northwestern regions, in what it called a reaction to the activities of “armed thugs and separatist terrorists. “
Foreign-based human rights organizations reported that several other people were shot dead during protests by security forces on Sunday night.
The Iranian government has denied that security forces use live ammunition.
Authorities did not provide an official count of the total number of people killed since the protests began, but said more than 50 members of the security forces have been killed in “riots” and operations carried out by foreign-backed “terrorists. “
Human rights teams say more than 400 people were killed, in addition to about 60 children.
Tehran has blamed foreign powers — France, Germany, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and the United States — for the unrest in the country.
It has responded to sanctions from several Western governments with its own sanctions.
As unrest continues in Iran, the country’s national soccer team has come under scrutiny by foreign media as it prepares to face England on Monday afternoon in the opening match of the two-team World Cup.
Iran and England are in Group B, along with the United States and Wales.
At a press conference on Sunday, Iran captain Ehsan Hajsafi gave the impression of explicitly expressing his for the protests, expressing his condolences to the families who have lost loved ones.
He also began his remarks by saying “at the call of the Rainbow God,” a reference to a word used in a video of Kian Pirfalak, a nine-year-old boy he killed after being shot in the town of Izeh. in Khuzestan province last week.
Pirfalak’s mother blamed security forces at his funeral, the government said “terrorists” on motorcycles killed him and six others.
Karim Bagheri and Yahya Golmohammadi, two former national soccer team players and members of the behind-the-scenes team of Iran’s top club Persepolis, were sanctioned on Sunday for posting protest messages on their social media accounts.
Bagheri fined 20% of his salary, while Golmohammadi fined 15%.
Two actresses, Katayoun Riahi and Hengameh Ghaziani, were arrested on Sunday.
They had filmed themselves without head coverings at the demonstrations.
Iran handed down a sixth death sentence related to a protest on Sunday, saying the convicted user blocked a major street in Tehran, fought Basij paramilitary forces with a weapon and “terrorized” civilians.