Iranian state television reported that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched an artillery attack on the positions of anti-Iran militants in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq on Saturday, 24 September.

The IRGC released a statement saying that their operations were aimed to “provide security, punish the perpetrators, and push the Kurdistan region’s authorities to assume responsibilities for their legal duties.”

Tehran accused Iranian-Kurdish armed groups of being implicated in the ongoing unrest in the country, particularly in the northwest where most of Iran’s Kurdish population lives.

According to Tasnim news agency, the IRGC artillery bombed the bases of ‘Komla’ (an Iranian opposition left-wing movement) and ‘Democrat’ (the Iranian Kurdistan Democratic Party) after they received a large number of weapons in cities near the country’s borders to spread chaos and disorder.

The IRGC called on local residents of the Kurdistan region, north of Al-Gharaq, to ​​”stay away from the headquarters and centers of groups hostile to Iran.”

Ehsan Chalabi, Mayor of Sidekan, the administrative center of the Bradost border area, told Kurdish media that at 15:25, the Iranian artillery started bombarding the mountain slopes of Barzin Gur Saya and the slopes of Horne in the northwestern Kurdistan Region.

The demonstrations against the Iranian government began after authorities announced the death of Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, who died in police custody on 17 September.

After seven days of widespread protests, mass demonstrations also took place in support of the Iranian government across the country.

Iranian officials have called on the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) to curb the activities of Iranian-Kurdish militant groups in the region, claiming that Israeli agents are stationed in the area, which the KRG denies.

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has vowed to “deal decisively” with the unrest across the country.

According to reports, 35 people have been killed so far in the unrest across Iran.