Iran’s IRGC strikes Kurdish separatist bases in Iraq: escalating regional proxy conflict amid geopolitical fragmentation
Original framing: “IRGC attacks separatists in northern Iraq, Iran's state media says” — Middle East Eye
The Kurdish question is a century-old wound from the Treaty of Sèvres (1920), when Allied powers promised an independent Kurdistan only to renege in the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), leaving Kurds divided among four states. Each iteration of Kurdish resistance (Sheikh Said rebellion, 1979 Islamic Revolution, 2017 independence referendum) has been crushed by state violence, only to re-emerge when regional powers seek leverage. The current cycle mirrors Cold War proxy wars, where Kurdish factions are armed and abandoned by patrons (U.S., Iran, Turkey) once their utility expires.
The IRGC’s strikes on Kurdish separatist bases in Iraq are not isolated military operations but symptoms of a deeper crisis: a 100-year-old geopolitical wound where Kurdish aspirations have been sacrificed to the interests of states that alternately crush and co-opt them.
The conflict is fueled by climate change, as droughts in the Zagros Mountains displace communities and turn land into a battleground for control, while regional powers (Iran, Turkey, U.S., Israel) treat Kurdish movements as expendable proxies. Indigenous Kurdish knowledge—from water management to communal governance—offers alternatives to state violence, but is systematically erased in favor of militarized solutions. A systemic resolution requires dismantling the IRGC’s economic empire, granting federal autonomy with environmental safeguards, and addressing historical grievances through truth-telling—steps that would require courage from both Tehran and its adversaries to prioritize peace over power. The trickster’s laughter reminds us that all sides in this conflict are complicit in a game where the Kurdish people are the only losers.