ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A senior Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) commander has warned Tehran against diverting its attention to Kurdish groups following an ease in tensions with the US, stating that any military action against Kurds would be "a big mistake" and urging political dialogue over armed confrontation.
"If some Iranian forces turn towards the Kurds and attack the Kurdish people, it will be a big mistake," said senior PKK commander Murat Karayilan, in an interview with PKK-affiliated Sterk TV on Monday, noting that "the Kurdish people did not take a side in the US-Iran war" that began in late February.
"At this time, if a war breaks out between the Kurds and the Iranian state, it will not serve any side. The Islamic Republic of Iran will find no benefit in this, nor will our people," said Karayilan, paying tribute to those killed while asserting that renewed conflict would benefit neither side.
Last week, the East Kurdistan Defense Units (YRK), the armed wing of the Kurdish opposition group Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK), reported that four of its fighters were killed during clashes with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the Kurdish region of western Iran (Rojhelat).
Six Peshmerga fighters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) were also killed in clashes with the IRGC in the western border regions of Iran late Wednesday.
While all the Kurdish Iranian opposition groups are based in camps in the Kurdistan Region and subject to restriction by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), PJAK fighters are stationed in the rugged mountainous region straddling the border between Iran and Iraq in Sulaimania province and operate in deep tunnels in the mountains. The group also has a number of units operating in the Kurdish areas in western Iran who live inside its caves and mountainous region.
Karayilan called on Tehran to pursue negotiations as opposed to military action.
"Methods of political solution and dialogue must be found. Can Iran not solve problems through political ways as well?” he asked, stating that “if they attack, of course, our people there will defend themselves."
Karayilan's remarks come as Tehran intensifies its attacks on Iranian Kurdish opposition groups, whom it views as "terrorists” and an existential security threat, following the 2022 Women, Life, Freedom protests which originated in the Kurdish region and evolved into nationwide anti-government unrest.
Iran accused Kurdish opposition groups of fueling the demonstrations, prompting a 2023 security agreement with Baghdad that led to the disarmament and relocation of Iranian Kurdish factions from border areas into camps across the Kurdistan Region.
Despite those measures, Iran has continued to launch cross-border strikes, describing them as preemptive operations and deterrence amid heightened concerns during the US-Iran war that Kurdish opposition groups could launch an armed uprising in Iran's Kurdish regions.
During the conflict, US President Donald Trump accused Kurdish factions of keeping weapons allegedly intended for Iranian anti-government protesters. Several Iranian Kurdish groups categorically denied the claim, while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio later said Trump's statements reflected general support for the Iranian people rather than confirmation of weapons transfers.
The remarks also come amid Turkey's renewed peace process with the PKK, launched after jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan called in February 2025 for the group to disarm. The PKK subsequently declared a unilateral ceasefire, while Turkish lawmakers later approved a framework for reintegrating fighters who renounce violence into society, although the proposal stopped short of granting full amnesty.
The Kurdistan Region has continued to affirm its neutrality during the US-Israel conflict with Iran, rejecting accusations that its territory was used to launch attacks against neighboring countries.
Kurdish officials have repeatedly condemned Iranian missile and drone strikes on the Region, maintaining that they are not a party to the conflict.
