Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK) fighters began taking combat positions inside Iran on March 2, a Coalition of Political Forces of Iranian Kurdistan (CPFIK) official told i24NEWS. Iranian forces withdrew from the border city of Mariwan the following day, the official said, and thousands of PJAK fighters deployed into the Zagros Mountains. A U.S. official confirmed the report to Fox News.
Khalil Nadiri, a Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK) official, said Wednesday that PAK forces repositioned near the Iranian border in Sulaymaniyah province after U.S. contact. A Komala official, speaking anonymously, said their fighters could cross into Iran within 10 days.
PJAK, PAK, Komala, the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI), and the Khabat Organization formed the CPFIK on February 22.
The Coalition of Political Forces of Iranian Kurdistan asks security forces in Iranian Kurdistan to defect from the “remnants of the Islamic Republic” and asks citizens in the region to “stay away from military and security sites for your own safety” pic.twitter.com/mfhEG9AOiL
— Faytuks Network (@FaytuksNetwork) March 3, 2026
President Donald Trump spoke Sunday night with Masoud Barzani and Bafel Talabani, heads of Iraq’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), Iraqi Kurdish officials said. One official said Trump requested military support for the groups and an open border. Trump also called PDKI president Mustafa Hijri on Tuesday, a senior Iranian Kurdish official said.
The CIA has been working to arm Kurdish forces to spark an uprising inside Iran, CNN reported, citing multiple sources. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Trump’s calls but denied he approved any arming plan. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said U.S. objectives are not “premised on the support or the arming of any particular force.”
Not a single Iraqi Kurd has crossed the border.
This is patently false. https://t.co/MOFdlcvQ9N
— Aziz Ahmad (@azizkahmad) March 4, 2026
Iraq Responds
Iraq’s National Security Adviser Qassim al-Araji said on X that Baghdad deployed border reinforcements after Tehran requested measures to block opposition crossings. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) confirmed it struck Kurdish opposition positions in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region.
Iraq’s National Security Advisor Qassim al-Araji @qassimalaraji: We received a phone call from Ali Bagheri, Deputy Secretary of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council. He confirmed that Tehran has informed the Gulf states that it has not targeted and will not target… https://t.co/G7hCN9pzSS
— Basha باشا (@BashaReport) March 4, 2026
These claims have not been independently verified. Kurdish officials and Iran have given conflicting accounts of the reported ground operations.
