ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – A top Iranian defense official on Friday warned Erbil that “all facilities” of the Kurdistan Region will be targeted if opposition groups are allowed to enter the borders of the Islamic Republic through the region.

"We would like to remind our friends and brothers in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq that so far only American and Israeli bases and separatist groups in the region have been targeted,” Ali Akbar Ahmadian, the representative of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to Iran’s defense council, stressed on Friday, as cited by the semi-official Mehr News Agency. 

“All facilities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq will be widely targeted as a backstop for these groups and the regime,” Ahmadian warned Erbil, saying this would occur if opposition groups are allowed to continue their “presence, plotting, and entering the borders of the Islamic Republic through the region.”

He also said that in that scenario, the “friendly relations and unwavering support” of Tehran for Erbil “will be stopped.”

​​The Kurdistan Region has been repeatedly targeted since the start of the war by both the Iranian military and pro-Iran militia groups inside Iraq, who cite the presence of US military bases as their rationale.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has shared footage of missile launches it says were at targets in the Kurdistan Region, coming as Iranian Kurdish opposition groups, as well as US military facilities, have come under repeated bombardment in the Region pic.twitter.com/LJsRkzdHf5

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Following the Iranian officials remarks on Friday, the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) said that the Kurdistan Region "will not become a party to any conflict or military escalation that could endanger the lives and security of our citizens."

On Wednesday, Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani assured Tehran that Erbil “will not be part of conflicts.”

The statement comes after reports emerged on Tuesday indicating that Washington will depend on an armed Kurdish invasion into western Iran to divert Iranian military personnel. The reports have been staunchly rejected by Erbil and Washington. 

On Thursday, US President Donald Trump said that he fully supports Iranian Kurdish opposition groups launching a military offensive against Iran, saying that he cannot say if the US would be willing to provide air cover should such a campaign begin.

Earlier in February, Kurdish opposition groups from western Iran (Rojhelat) formed a joint coalition aimed at toppling the Iranian government, with the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan announcing on Wednesday it had joined the alliance, bringing the total number of groups in the coalition to six.

The bases of Kurdish opposition groups in the Kurdistan Region have come under attack repeatedly in the past week. 

The Kurdish-majority region of Rojhelat holds significant political and geographic sensitivity, long marked by resistance to Tehran’s policies as residents face decades of discrimination, heavy security crackdowns, economic underdevelopment, and limited job opportunities.

Kurds in Iran are also among the communities with organized opposition groups and movements, with most having armed Peshmerga forces that have resisted Tehran for more than four decades.

The dissident parties, based in the Kurdistan Region, have long been military targets for Iran, drawing concerns from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) over the Region’s security.

Updated at 14:42 with KDP statement