US media claimed that rebel militants had launched a ground offensive from Iraq amid ongoing US-Israeli strikes on Tehran
Local authorities in western Iran have firmly denied reports that armed Kurdish groups had crossed into the country from Iraq’s Kurdistan region, insisting the border is under complete control. Meanwhile, Tehran has reportedly carried out “preemptive strikes” on opposition bases in northern Iraq.
The denials follow days of US media reports suggesting Washington was arming Kurdish forces as potential ground troops. An American official told Fox News on Wednesday that “thousands of Iraqi Kurdish fighters” had allegedly launched an assault inside Iran.
Mohammad Shafi’i, governor of Qasr-e Shirin county on the Iran-Iraq border, dismissed the incursion reports, telling local media Thursday that “no reports of infiltration or illegal movement of armed groups or criminals have been recorded.”
He described rumors about “anti-revolutionary elements” entering the Islamic Republic as “completely false,” serving “no purpose other than to create concern among the people.”
Kurdish dissident groups based in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region have acknowledged positioning themselves near the border, but insist they have yet to cross.
Hanna Hussein Yazdan Pana of the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK) told the BBC that six Kurdish opposition groups were coordinating plans but waiting for US support. “We cannot move if the air above us is not cleaned,” she said, adding that moving now “would be suicidal.”
A senior leader of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI) told the BBC he believed Kurds “would be fighting in Iran soon” but declined to give a timeline.
On Thursday, the Iranian Intelligence Ministry announced it had carried out a “preemptive” military operation targeting “separatist terrorist groups” who intended to “abuse the war conditions and infiltrate Iran through western borders with US and Israeli support.”
The ministry did not specify which groups were specifically targeted or in what regions. According to state media, the strikes destroyed bases and ammunition depots, inflicting “heavy losses.”
The White House has denied reports of its involvement. US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth stated that “none of our objectives are premised on the support or the arming of any particular force.”
Meanwhile, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that Trump had spoken with Kurdish leaders “with respect to our base that we have in northern Iraq,” but denied that any specific plan had been agreed upon.
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