Shafaq News- Erbil
Iran's opposition Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK) will not surrender its weapons under any circumstances but is ready to leave the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) if its presence places pressure on the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) or creates problems for it, PAK spokesperson Khalil Naderi told Shafaq News on Tuesday.
Naderi said Tehran has sought to prevent Kurdish opposition activities in the Iranian province of Kurdistan since an agreement he dated to 2022 and has pressured opposition leaders to turn themselves in. Still, “PAK could move to mountainous areas of Iranian Kurdistan if the KRG exerted significant pressure" on the party.
Discussions with the KRG remain ongoing, and the party respects the KRI’s laws, regulations, and boundaries, he said, adding that PAK has maintained a commitment for more than 30 years not to launch military operations against Iran from KRI territory and does not seek to destabilize it.
Naderi also denied receiving any official communication from the KRG concerning disarmament or expulsion, saying existing discussions focus on compliance with local laws and consideration of the KRI's circumstances.
Earlier today, a statement circulated by Iranian media and attributed to Iranian Ambassador to Iraq Mohammad Kazem Al-e Sadegh said Baghdad and Tehran had agreed to expel Iranian Kurdish opposition groups from the Kurdistan Region or hand their members over to Iran. The statement followed a joint security committee meeting in Baghdad on Monday attended by Iranian officials, Iraqi National Security Adviser Qassem Al-Abboudi, and a KRG delegation. According to Iraq's official account, the meeting addressed outstanding issues and implementation of the bilateral security agreement but did not refer to expelling or handing over opposition members.
Read more: Baghdad, Tehran step up coordination on Iranian armed groups in Kurdistan
Iraq and Iran reached a security arrangement in March 2023 requiring Baghdad to prevent armed operations against Iran from Iraqi territory. In September 2024, then-Iraqi National Security Adviser Qasim Al-Araji said authorities had closed dozens of opposition headquarters along the border and transferred the groups' heavy weapons to Peshmerga forces.
Iranian Kurdish opposition parties maintain headquarters in the KRI and have repeatedly faced drone and missile attacks, some of which KRI authorities have attributed to Iran and “Iraqi militias.”
Last week, President Nechirvan Barzani told a panel at the Middle East Research Institute's MERI Forum 2026 that the KRI had sealed its border with Iran and deployed forces along it when the regional war broke out. He said Iranian Kurdish opposition groups based in the region had also been warned that they would not be allowed to attack Iran.
"Iran is our neighbor, the war was not our war, and the Kurdistan Region will not be a launchpad for threats against Iran," Barzani said, adding that no armed group can be allowed to threaten neighboring countries from the KRI.
Read more: Iraqi–Iranian Security MoU rekindles a decade of border deals—and old controversies