EXCLUSIVE: Iranian Kurdish opposition groups say they are willing to challenge Tehran but are holding back for now as the war between the United States, Israel and the Islamic Republic continues to unfold.
Reports in recent days have suggested that President Donald Trump has spoken with Mustafa Hijri, the leader of the KDPI, as Washington investigates possible Kurdish involvement in the pressure on Iran.
Azizi declined to confirm or deny whether such a conversation took place.
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Iranian Kurdish fighters from the Kurdish Freedom Party (PAK) take part in a training session at a base on the outskirts of Erbil, Iraq, February 12, 2026. (Thaier Al-Sudani/Reuters)
Azizi himself has firsthand experience of Iran’s military retaliation.
In 2018, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps launched ballistic missiles at the KDPI headquarters in Koy Sanjaq in Iraq’s Kurdistan region during a leadership meeting, killing at least 18 people and wounding dozens.
“We are being targeted by the Islamic Republic,” Azizi said. “The first Iranian missile was sent to my headquarters and I was personally injured in that attack.”
Despite the risks, Azizi said Kurdish resistance remains strong after decades of confrontation with Iran.
“The Iranian Kurdish resistance movement is actually very strong because we have been on the ground since the Iranian revolution,” he said.
Azizi spoke from Washington, DC, where he said Kurdish representatives were meeting with policymakers and institutions to discuss the situation in Iran and the role Kurdish groups could play as the conflict evolves.
But for now, Kurdish groups say they are waiting to see how the broader war develops.
“We are ready and our party is well organized,” Azizi said. “But at the moment we have no intention of entering Iranian Kurdistan because the ground forces have not been a subject in this war.”
“It’s very easy to start a war,” he added. “But it will be more complicated how to end this war.”
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Members of the Kurdish Democratic Party-Iran attend the funeral of their comrades killed in a bomb attack in Koysinjaq, in the autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq, on December 21, 2016. (Stringer/AFP via Getty Images)
The KDPI is one of the oldest Kurdish opposition movements fighting the Islamic Republic of Iran. The group is a member of the Socialist International and operates mainly from bases in the Kurdish region of Iraq and has waged armed and political opposition to Tehran since the 1979 Iranian revolution.
Azizi said Kurdish political movements recently took an important step by forming a joint alliance aimed at coordinating their political strategy.
“We have managed to create unity among the Kurdish political parties,” he said. “This has been welcomed by the Iranian Kurdish people and by several Iranian political parties.”
The alliance, known as the Coalition of Political Forces of Iranian Kurdistan, brings together several historically divided Kurdish factions opposed to the Islamic Republic.
Azizi said Iran’s future will ultimately depend on whether Iranians themselves rise up against the regime.
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Smoke rises from reported explosions in Tehran, Iran, on March 2, 2026. (Contributor/Getty Images)
“If you look at the aim of the United States and Israel in this war, they have targeted the Iranian military, security and political institutions. In this regard, Iran has been weakened,” he said.
“But the regime still remains in power because there are no people on the streets and there is currently no alternative to replace this regime.”
Azizi urged Western governments to focus not only on the military campaign but also on helping Iranian opposition movements with political coordination.
Iran, he said, is a multi-ethnic country whose future stability will depend on building a democratic system that includes all its communities.
“The path and roadmap for Iran’s reconstruction must be based on the participation of all ethnic groups,” Azizi said. “Iran is a multi-ethnic society.”
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Explosions rock Tehran, Iran, on March 6, 2026. (Contributor/Getty Images)
For now, he said, the Kurdish fighters remain in a holding pattern.
“We have the opportunity and we have the capacity,” Azizi said. “But it is not easy for us at this time to make a decision about entry into Iranian Kurdistan.”
