Iran's Drumbeaters in Iraq's Kurdistan Region

Ali Sirini | Exclusive to iKurd.net
Translated by iKurd.net from Kurdish Awene

Iran has reached its end, only time remains. All this noise Iran is making is nothing but the noise before collapse. This state, built on Persian-Shiite centralism, whether under the Shah or under Khomeini, has kept its grip on the Kurdish throat and continues to choke it.

The execution of Kurdish youth, the assassination of Kurdish leaders, intellectuals, and influential figures has not been occasional, it has been systematic, a defining feature of this regime since it took power in 1979. Yet the terror it wages against Kurdish history, identity, culture, and heritage is even more destructive than its killing of individuals.

In the face of this immense record of crime, bloodshed, and oppression against the Kurds, nothing is more disgraceful than the drumbeaters within Kurdish society who, in this war of America and Israel against Iran, behave like extensions of the Quds Force.

They defend Iran relentlessly, stand against their own people, and remain completely silent about Iran’s attacks on the Kurds. Worse still, they do not stop at defense, they actively position themselves against their own nation, weaken Kurdish morale, justify Iran’s attacks on the Region, and, under the hollow slogan of “wisdom,” urge Kurds not to resist Iran.

Iran’s media campaign, and the chorus of its loyalists in this war, is no different from Iraq’s propaganda in 1991 and 2003, loud, inflated, and built on nothing but lies. In 1991, Saddam launched nearly 40 Scud missiles at Israel, causing limited structural damage and relatively few casualties. In return, Israel received massive compensation, while Iraq as a state collapsed and has never truly recovered.

Smoke rises in Tehran, Iran, following U.S.‑Israeli strikes, March 5, 2026. Photo: Reuters.

Today, Iran is walking the same path. Israel’s strikes on Iran are crippling and relentless. Iran’s leadership, even at the highest levels, including Khamenei, has been directly targeted. Its top scientists have been systematically eliminated. Its air and naval forces have been shattered. Its infrastructure, including its nuclear program, has suffered devastating blows and is nearing total destruction.

And yet, Iran and its followers continue to cling to absurd claims of victory, speaking as if they are on the verge of defeating the combined power of America and Israel in some imagined “end-times war.” In reality, they have achieved little beyond minor damage and limited casualties in those countries, while inflicting serious harm on their own neighbors, including the Kurds and Gulf states, by targeting civilian infrastructure, institutions, and energy systems.

The justification these Kurdish drumbeaters offer for siding with Iran is as weak as it is dishonest, Iran is “oppressed,” it is “Muslim,” it is a “neighbor,” and it is supposedly fighting global injustice at the hands of America and Israel. They constantly invoke “wisdom” as an excuse for Kurdish silence.

According to them, Kurds must neither resist Iran nor mobilize for their own freedom. So let us confront these claims directly. If “wisdom” means silence, if it means doing nothing so Iran will leave the Kurds alone, then why, from the very start of this war until now, has Iran continued its attacks despite the fact that Kurds have not fired a single bullet in response? Nearly 500 missiles and drones have already struck Iraqi Kurdistan Region, killing fourteen people and injuring nearly a hundred. If silence is wisdom, why are Peshmerga forces, infrastructure, and civilian institutions still under attack?

And why do these same voices not preach “wisdom” to Hamas in Gaza? Why do they not call for silence there, in a conflict unfolding in a territory no larger than a small Kurdish town? On the contrary, they celebrate that war as heroism, declare Hamas the victor, and portray Israel as defeated.

Meanwhile, Kurdistan, with its vast mountainous terrain and long history of suffering, faces oppression from Iran that, in scale and duration, is no less severe, yet Kurdish resistance is labeled inappropriate. This is not principle, it is hypocrisy. And if they cannot bring themselves to condemn Iran’s attacks, the bare minimum is this, stop supporting them.

Because throughout history, there has been only one name for those who side with the enemy of their own nation, traitors. On one side, Iran bombs Iraqi Kurdistan, kills civilians and Peshmerga, and on the other, these voices mourn for Khamenei, send messages of sympathy to the clerical regime, and remain silent toward the victims of their own people.

The greatest danger posed by these drumbeaters and Iranian proxies within Kurdish society is the space they have been allowed to occupy. They have gone so far as to accuse and discredit those who defend Kurdish identity. Instead of being exposed as traitors, they now position themselves as the arbiters of identity, deciding who is “acceptable” and who is not.

Even more alarming is the psychological damage they inflict. They shape the mindset of Kurds, especially the younger generation, by promoting fear, passivity, and silence in the face of oppression. They normalize surrender, encourage the abandonment of Kurdish identity under pressure, and actively erode the spirit of resistance in the hearts and minds of Kurdish youth.

Dr. Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou after the assassination in Vienna, Austria — Iranian Kurdish leader Dr. Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou (top) and two of his colleagues were assassinated in Vienna during negotiations with Iranian agents on July 13, 1989. Photo: Police/Austrian newspaper/archive/iKurd.net

All of this unfolds while Iran continues its long record of abuses, executing Kurdish youth en masse, suppressing Kurdish identity and culture in Eastern [Iranian] Kurdistan [Rojhelat], eliminating Kurdish intellectuals and leaders, flooding the Kurdistan Region with drugs and unsafe goods, and bombing Kurdish towns and cities.

Yet these so-called defenders of justice have not uttered a single word against any of it. Their silence exposes them. Their claims of standing against oppression are empty. They speak loudly, sharply, against corruption in Iraqi Kurdistan Region, yet remain completely mute when it comes to Iran, a system saturated with corruption.

Even when Kurdish salaries are cut by Iran-aligned Shiite authorities in Iraq, they say nothing. Their hostility is reserved almost entirely for the Iraqi Kurdistan Region itself, and any Kurd who dares to acknowledge even a minor positive aspect of its governance is immediately branded a traitor, a sellout, or a slave.

This reality demands a response. The parliament and government of the Kurdistan Region must establish clear legal measures addressing national and ethnic betrayal.

What is happening within Kurdish society today is not normal, it is an unprecedented condition in which the voices of traitors are so loud, so aggressive, that loyal Kurds hesitate to defend their own people and homeland out of fear of smear campaigns and public defamation. When defending your nation becomes something to fear, and betraying it becomes something to amplify, the danger is no longer external, it is within.

This article was originally published in the Kurdish language in Awene Newspaper on March 30, 2026.

The opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of iKurd.net or its editors.