{"id":324628,"date":"2026-03-13T08:00:54","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T08:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=324628"},"modified":"2026-03-14T06:57:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T06:57:17","slug":"iranians-fear-fragmentation-as-rumours-swirl-about-us-backing-kurdish-groups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=324628","title":{"rendered":"Iranians fear fragmentation as rumours swirl about US backing Kurdish groups"},"content":{"rendered":"

Middle East Eye \u2013 March 12, 2026<\/strong><\/h1>\n

For many Iranians<\/a>, the war<\/a> launched by Israel<\/a> and the US <\/a>has triggered fears that go beyond air strikes and missile attacks.<\/p>\n

Some now worry that the conflict will open the door to internal instability and even attempts to fragment the country along ethnic lines.<\/p>\n

Keyvan, 42, was born and raised in Tehran. Like many others, he has been following the news of the war closely.\u00a0Keyvan isn\u2019t worried only about the bombing campaign, though: he fears that armed Kurdish groups based in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq<\/a> could try to enter Iran if the war escalates.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have been planning to break up Iran <\/a>for years. Not just Israel, even the United States. Just listen to what Trump has said,\u201d Keyvan tells Middle East Eye.<\/p>\n

He is referring to remarks <\/a>made by US President Donald Trump suggesting that Iran\u2019s borders might not remain the same after the war. The comment has circulated widely on Persian-language social media and has added to concerns about the country\u2019s territorial integrity.<\/p>\n

In recent weeks, reports have circulated about possible preparations by armed Iranian Kurdish groups based across the border in Iraq. In the fog of war, some unverified accounts have even claimed that small-scale incursions may already have begun.<\/p>\n

Prominent Kurdish figures, including Bafel Talabani, leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), have said that they do not foresee cross-border operations taking place and do not believe regime change will take place in Tehran.<\/p>\n

\u201cIranians, like everybody else, are very nationalistic persons, and I believe that if they fear that Kurds coming in from elsewhere will cause a split or a splintering of their country, this may actually unify the people against this separatist movement,\u201d Talabani said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But this view is not shared by all Kurdish leaders.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been planning for a long time, and now that conditions are more favourable, there is a strong probability of action,\u201d Babasheikh Hosseini, secretary-general of the Khabat Organisation of Iranian Kurdistan, told<\/a> Al Jazeera last Friday.<\/p>\n

Kurdish armed groups<\/strong><\/h2>\n

According to research cited by Minority Rights Group International<\/a>, Kurds make up around 10 percent of Iran\u2019s population, living mainly in the provinces of Kurdistan, Kermanshah, West Azerbaijan and Ilam.<\/p>\n

Several Iranian Kurdish opposition movements, which Tehran generally considers to be terrorist groups, have operated for decades from bases in northern Iraq.<\/p>\n

A week before the war on Iran began, the Kurdish Freedom Party (PAK), the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI), the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), Komala and the Khabat organisation formed<\/a> a coalition of Iranian Kurdish opposition parties whose stated aim was the \u201coverthrow of the Islamic Republic of Iran\u201d.<\/p>\n

Over the years, tensions between Tehran and Kurdish armed groups have periodically escalated. Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has repeatedly launched missile and drone strikes against militant camps across the border in Iraq.<\/p>\n

In 2023, Iran and Iraq signed <\/a>a security agreement aimed at disarming Iranian Kurdish armed groups and relocating them away from the Iranian border.<\/p>\n

Iraqi officials later said several camps had been moved deeper into Iraqi Kurdistan. Still, residents in Iran\u2019s Kurdish regions say weapons smuggling across the mountainous border appears to have increased since the 12-day war launched by Israel last year.<\/p>\n

Inside Kurdish Iran<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Bahram, a 65-year-old resident of Sanandaj, the capital of Iran\u2019s Kurdistan province, says local people are well aware of developments across the border.<\/p>\n

Sanandaj lies in a region where most residents are Sunni Muslims \u2013 a minority in Iran, where the majority of the population is Shia. Sunni communities in Iran, including Kurds and Arabs, have long complained about discrimination and political marginalisation.<\/p>\n

But Bahram says that when it comes to Iran\u2019s territorial integrity, ethnic and religious differences fade. \u201cWhen the issue is Iran, there is no difference between Shia and Sunni, Kurdish or Persian,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you travel through towns in Kurdistan province and talk to ordinary people, you will hear the same thing,\u201d he tells MEE. \u201cSince the 12-day war, more weapons have been coming across the border.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bahram believes the movement of weapons is part of a broader strategy. \u201cIn my view, Israel is behind much of this, trying to create unrest inside Iran at the right moment,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Iranian officials have not released detailed information about such reports, but they have repeatedly warned that any cross-border activity by Kurdish armed groups will be met with force.<\/p>\n

Since the start of the current war, Iranian forces have carried out several strikes inside Iraqi Kurdistan, which Tehran says targeted bases belonging to \u201cseparatist terrorist groups\u201d.<\/p>\n

Despite long-standing grievances in Kurdish areas of Iran, Bahram believes armed Kurdish groups have limited support among local people.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven in small towns, these militant groups are not popular,\u201d he says. \u201cDespite attempts to arm certain groups inside Iranian Kurdistan, I don\u2019t think fighters from across the border would be able to advance far if they tried to enter Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fear replaces hope<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Meanwhile, some Iranians who once supported the idea of foreign military pressure on the Islamic Republic say they are now reconsidering their views.<\/p>\n

Zohreh, a 43-year-old mother, says the possibility of Kurdish militias entering Iran has made her deeply anxious.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat would happen if Kurdish fighters came into the country?\u201d she asks. \u201cWould we move toward partition? Toward civil war?<\/p>\n

“We have seen what happened in Syria<\/a> and Libya<\/a>. We do not want our beloved Iran to be torn apart.\u201d<\/p>\n

She says she once supported the idea of outside pressure on the Iranian government. \u201cWe were exhausted by the crimes of the Islamic Republic. We were tired of unemployment, rising prices and political repression. We thought maybe war would end everything,” she says.<\/p>\n

But the war has changed her mind. \u201cNow when I listen to the speeches of Israel\u2019s prime minister and the American president, I realise they are criminals too, just like the Islamic Republic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her voice trembles as she continues: \u201cWe, the people of Iran, are trapped between powerful forces that do not care about us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The borders of Iran<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Although some activists and intellectuals in Iran support ideas such as federalism and greater recognition of minority rights, strong nationalist sentiment remains widespread across the country.<\/p>\n

Armin, a 36-year-old resident of Tehran, says Iran\u2019s territorial unity is a red line for many citizens.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Iranians, touching the map of the country is unacceptable,\u201d he says. \u201cIran is not just land. It is our identity. Anyone who tries to divide it will face the anger of the Iranian people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Analysts from organisations such as the International Crisis Group have warned that external conflict could intensify ethnic tensions inside Iran if instability spreads across its borders.<\/p>\n

Trump, among other US officials, has denied reports suggesting Washington might support Kurdish militant incursions into Iran.
\nBut for many Iranians, official statements from Washington offer little reassurance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t trust anything Trump says,\u201d Keyvan says. \u201cHe says something different every day. Experience has taught me to prepare for the worst.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zohreh recalls another moment that shaped her scepticism. \u201cWasn\u2019t he the same person who tweeted during the protests two months ago that American help was on the way,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd then a few days later he was negotiating with the Islamic Republic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t trust these promises any more. What we fear most now is that our country could slide into civil war. Only God can help us, if there is a God at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some Iranians who once supported the idea of foreign military pressure on the Islamic Republic are now reconsidering their views. “We have seen what happened in Syria and Libya. We do not want our beloved Iran to be torn apart,\u201d says Zohreh, a 43-year-old mother<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":324631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[58,51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-324628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-Current_Affairs","category-Iran"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=324628"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":324629,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324628\/revisions\/324629"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/324631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=324628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=324628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=324628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}