ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iranian border guards shot and killed a young Kurdish border porter (kolbar) in the Hawraman border area of western Iran (Rojhelat) early Wednesday while he was carrying goods across the border, according to Hengaw Organization for Human Rights.
Identified only by his first name, Zanyar, from the Kurdish city of Sardasht, was killed in the early hours of Wednesday near the border village of Dereki in Sarvabad along Hawraman border area after Iranian border forces opened fire, according to the watchdog.
Iranian border guards and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) regularly shoot and kill border porters, known locally as kolbars, who carry untaxed goods such as fabric, tea, coffee and auto parts on foot across the mountainous and heavily militarized border between Iran and the Kurdistan Region in exchange for modest wages.
Hengaw reported that from the beginning of 2026 to date, nine kolbars were targeted; five were killed and four were injured all under direct fire.
In July Iranian border guards shot and killed two Kurdish Kolbars, 57-year-old Wazir Rahimi, near the Shushmi border area in Kermanshah province, and Sirwan Khoshnamak, an 18-year-old kolbar who was carrying goods across the Veyseh border in Marivan, Kurdistan Province.
In 2025, 59 were targeted; 25 kolbars were killed and 34 were injured in Kermanshah, Sanaa and Urmia provinces. In 2024, at least 339 kolbars were killed. The 2026 figures reflect a decline in border activity due to border closures during the 40-day war and ensuing escalations.
Unemployment and economic hardship, coupled with the US-Iran war which began in late February, drives many in the Kurdish communities to the grueling nature of the work along the border with the Kurdistan Region, despite facing personal risk and being frequently targeted by border guards.
