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17-01-2026
TEHRAN/ BAGHDAD: Armed Kurdish separatist groups sought to cross the border into Iran from Iraq, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, in a sign of foreign entities potentially seeking to take advantage of instability after days of crackdown on protests against Tehran.
The three sources, who included a senior Iranian official and who all spoke on condition of anonymity, said neighboring Turkey’s intelligence agency had warned Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) of the Kurdish fighters crossing the frontier in recent days.
The Iranian official said the IRGC had clashed with the Kurdish fighters, who the official said sought to create instability and take advantage of the protests. The Guards are an elite force that has suppressed previous bouts of unrest in Iran.
The Turkish intelligence agency MIT did not immediately comment on the issue, nor did the presidency in Ankara. Turkey, which deems Kurdish militants in northern Iraq terrorists, has warned in recent days that any foreign intervention in Iran would escalate regional crises.
The fighters had been dispatched from Iraq and Turkey, the Iranian official said, adding that Tehran has asked those countries to halt any transfer of fighters or weapons to Iran.
A rights group said 2,600 people have been killed in recent days in a crackdown on Iranian protesters opposing clerical rule and who have been urged on by the United States, which has threatened to intervene.
Iran asks regional states to prevent a US attack
Trump has openly threatened to intervene in Iran for days, without giving specifics. In an interview with CBS News on Tuesday, he vowed “very strong action” if Iran executes protesters. He also urged Iranians to keep protesting and take over institutions, declaring “help is on the way”.
The senior Iranian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Tehran had asked US allies in the region to prevent Washington from attacking Iran.
“Tehran has told regional countries, from Saudi Arabia and UAE to Turkey, that US bases in those countries will be attacked” if the US targets Iran, the official said.
Direct contacts between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff have been suspended, the official added.
The United States has forces across the region including the forward headquarters of its Central Command at Al Udeid in Qatar and the headquarters of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.
The flow of information from inside Iran has been hampered by an internet blackout.
The US-based HRANA rights group said it had so far verified the deaths of 2,403 protesters and 147 government-affiliated individuals, dwarfing tolls from previous waves of protests crushed by the authorities in 2022 and 2009.
The government’s prestige was hammered by a 12-day Israeli bombing campaign last June, joined by the US that followed setbacks for Iran’s regional allies in Lebanon and Syria. European powers restored UN sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program, compounding the economic crisis there.
The unrest on such a scale caught the authorities off guard at a vulnerable time but it does not appear that the government faces imminent collapse, and its security apparatus still appears to be in control, one Western official said.
The authorities have sought to project images showing they retain public support. Iranian state TV broadcast footage of large funeral processions for people killed in the unrest in Tehran, Isfahan, Bushehr and other cities.
People waved flags and pictures of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and held aloft signs with anti-riot slogans. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
