ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Komala Party Secretary-General Abdullah Mohtadi criticized Iranian opposition leader Reza Pahlavi for “suppressing the Kurds” on Thursday after Pahlavi accused “separatist groups” of undermining Iranian unity.
Mohtadi issued a statement in response to Pahlavi’s comments earlier in the day accusing “several separatist groups” of making “baseless and contemptible claims against the territorial integrity and national unity of Iran.”
While he did not identify the groups, Pahlavi appeared to be referring to a newly-formed Iranian Kurdish political alliance announced earlier this week that aims to unify their efforts against the Islamic Republic and advance Kurdish self-determination.
In his statement, Mohtadi said Kurds are “completely united in the fight against the Islamic Republic” and support a diverse, democratic Iran “that guarantees the rights of all nationalities, including Kurds.”
“Our participation or absence in this or that coalition does not affect this fundamental belief and fundamental solidarity,” he added.
Pahlavi accused the groups of collaborating with both former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and former Iranian Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini, who toppled the Shah of Iran - Pahlavi’s father - to form the Islamic Republic in 1979.
The statements intensified divides among Iran’s diverse opposition groups, which are seizing on Tehran’s mounting weaknesses as the country struggles with a devastated economy, protests, and threats of US military strikes.
Pahlavi, a prominent exile in the US who is positioning himself to lead Iran if the regime falls, said the country’s “territorial integrity” was “the ultimate red line of our great and united nation.”
“Any individual or group that crosses this red line, or collaborates with those who do, will face the resolute response of the Iranian nation,” he warned.
Mohtadi cautioned that Pahlavi’s comments “divide and destroy the solidarity between citizens by injecting hatred and creating hostility among people.” He maintained that “repeating the regime’s lies” validates Tehran’s "repressions."
The new Kurdish alliance brings together five Kurdish parties based in Iraq and Iran: Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI), the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK), the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan, and the Organization of Iranian Kurdistan Struggle (Khabat).
After the alliance was announced, the Kurdistan Region’s Interior Ministry issued in a statement distancing the Region from Iranian Kurdish armed breakaway movements.
The Kurdistan Region “has been a factor of stability and peace in the region and has never been a source of threat or danger to the security of any neighboring country, nor does it allow any party to use the Kurdistan Region against any neighboring country,” the ministry said.