Iran to KDP and PUK Leaders: Let One Fighter Cross and We Strike You Directly
Iranian officials have warned KDP and PUK leadership that if one Iranian Kurdish fighter is allowed to cross the border…
Airstrikes in Iran’s West Target Police Stations and Border Posts, Hinting at a Ground Strategy Built Around the Kurds
Tehran remains the main centre of strikes, but the more revealing pattern is unfolding in the west. The war now…
Who Comes First Where in Iranian Kurdistan
None of the Iranian Kurdish parties appears to command broad, province-wide mass support in the classic sense. Their relative weight…
Written by
Arivan
Iran’s Kurdish Opposition Unveils a New Alliance, but Leaves the Hard Questions Unanswered
Five Iranian Kurdish opposition parties have announced what they call the “Kurdistan Alliance,” a new framework intended to coordinate decision-making for Iranian Kurdistan. The announcement was made in the Kurdistan…
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Arivan
Mazloum Abdi at Munich: What It Was, and What It Was Not
Mazloum Abdi’s participation in the Munich Security Conference mattered, but it must be understood within its proper context. Inflating its significance risks pushing expectations beyond what the conference, or the…
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Arivan
The Syria Crisis Triggered a Different Battle in the Kurdistan Region: Over What It Means to Be Kurdish
When fighting between the Syrian Democratic Forces and Damascus-aligned forces escalated in early-to-mid January, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq responded on two levels at once. The mainstream reaction was instinctive…
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Arivan
Iraq’s Power Struggle Has Two New Wildcards: A U.S. Veto and a Weakened Iran
Three months after Iraq’s November 2025 parliamentary elections, the country remains without a government. The Coordination Framework — the umbrella alliance of Shia parties that holds the parliamentary majority —…
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Arivan
The Perception Bubble: How an Echo Chamber Shaped the SDF’s Strategic Miscalculation
Following the SDF’s major territorial losses last month, much of the commentary has argued that the March 10 integration agreement stalled because PKK pressure from Qandil blocked pragmatic concessions. That…
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Arivan
The Maverick Playbook: How Bafel Talabani Is Trying to Turn Kurdistan’s Math Against the KDP
Bafel Talabani is running a two-front strategy against the KDP that has eliminated Masrour Barzani’s path to forming a government on his own terms. In the Kurdistan parliament, Bafel has…
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Arivan
ENKS Seeks Its Own Lane as Damascus Plays Kurdish Factions Against Each Other
A delegation from the Syrian Kurdish National Council, known as ENKS, met with Syrian President Ahmad al-Shara and Foreign Minister Asad al-Shaybani in Damascus yesterday. The visit marks the first…
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