WASHINGTON DC - Former US congressman Patrick Kennedy said Saturday that Iran’s Kurdish community has been “enormously courageous” as Kurdish opposition groups based in the Kurdistan Region continue to face repeated Iranian strikes.
“The Kurdish community has been enormously courageous. They have withstood incredible attacks, and they have remained united and very powerful,” Kennedy, a former Democratic member of Congress, told Rudaw while taking part in a demonstration by Iran’s opposition groups in Washington, including Kurdish ones.
The remarks come amid continued Iranian attacks on Kurdish opposition groups since the war involving the US, Israel, and Iran erupted on February 28. Despite a ceasefire reached in April, Iranian drone and missile strikes have repeatedly targeted Kurdish opposition camps in the Kurdistan Region.
“I say to anybody fighting for a free Iran and democratic Iran, we need everybody to be prepared now more than ever to assume the mantle of leadership,” he said, adding that “the worst thing that can happen after the fall of these mullahs is for us not to take full advantage to fill that vacuum with what we already know to be well-organized organizations that respect the rule of law, really desire a civil society marked by democracy and individual liberty.”
Days before the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran began, several Kurdish opposition parties announced a new political alliance aimed at unifying efforts against Tehran and advancing Kurdish self-determination.
“This marks an enormous opportunity for the Kurdish people, as it does for the rest of Iran,” Kennedy said.
The US and Iran agreed to a Pakistan-mediated ceasefire on April 8, halting fighting to allow space for negotiations. While the first round of talks ended without a final agreement on April 11, a second round has yet to take place, with tensions still ongoing.
Despite the ceasefire, the Kurdistan Region has been hit by dozens of drones and missiles since the truce took effect.
Kurdish leaders have repeatedly condemned Tehran over the attacks, stressing that the Kurdistan Region is not party to the conflict and has not allowed its territory to be used to launch attacks against Iran.
In a late April interview with Rudaw, Hamid Reza Gholamzadeh, director of Iran’s Diplomatic House and former editor-in-chief of the semi-official Mehr News Agency, said Tehran views the strikes on Kurdish opposition groups as part of “efforts to secure its border that began even before the [six-week] war.”
He suggested Iran would continue to “defend its own security” against the groups, adding that the issue “is not connected to war. It is more about the security of the borders.”