Senior Iranian official issues warning to Kurdistan Region on opposition groups

ERBIL — A senior Iranian official warned the Kurdistan Region on Friday that if Iranian Kurdish opposition groups are allowed to continue operating from its territory or cross into Iran through it, “all facilities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, as the rear base of these groups and the regime, will be widely targeted.”

Ali Akbar Ahmadian, a representative of the late supreme leader in the Iranian Defense Council, addressed Kurdistan Region leaders directly in comments reported by Iran’s Mehr News Agency, saying Iran had so far limited its strikes to what he described as “U.S. and Israeli bases and separatist groups in the region.” He said Iranian armed forces had carried out operations against “hostile American-Zionist enemies” and that “a new equation has been formed by the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

The warning is the most explicit threat yet directed at the Kurdistan Region’s broader infrastructure, going beyond the opposition camps and U.S. targets that have been struck repeatedly in recent days. It comes as U.S. President Donald Trump said in a Reuters interview Thursday that it would be “wonderful” if Kurdish forces launched an offensive against Iran, adding that he would be “all for it.” American media have reported potential U.S. contacts with Iranian Kurdish opposition.

The Kurdistan Regional Government has vigorously denied involvement in any plans to arm Iranian Kurdish opposition groups or send fighters into Iran.