Two members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were shot and killed in the western city of Paveh on the evening of June 30, according to Iranian state media reports published Wednesday. The attack took place in Kermanshah Province, close to the border with Iraq's Kurdistan region, and left two additional IRGC members wounded.
Iranian state television wasted no time labeling the killings "a terrorist and cowardly act," adding that authorities were still reviewing the details while working to identify those responsible. The shootings reportedly took place at the victims' homes.
State media pinned the blame on "anti-government and separatist agents." The IRGC's own media arm, Sepah News, offered a more detailed narrative, claiming that a team of saboteurs linked to separatist organizations had crossed into Iran through the northwestern border with Iraqi Kurdistan. IRGC troops allegedly intercepted the group and killed four individuals. Blurry photographs of the dead were released alongside the claim.
A previously unknown Kurdish militant organization calling itself Xore Heva, or Sun of Hope, stepped forward to claim responsibility. The group said its mission is to "promote political awareness, strengthen Kurdish national identity, and confront the policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran." It framed the Paveh attack as payback for the Iranian government's crackdown on anti-government protesters in 2022.
The Paveh killings were not an isolated event. They came amid a wave of attacks targeting Iranian security forces across multiple regions during the same period. In the city of Baneh, a gunman reportedly shot and killed two police officers at a security checkpoint. In Saravan, located in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan, an IRGC member named Amirhossein Arbabi and his wife were also killed. State television attributed that attack to "Zionist-American mercenaries," while the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights said the couple was targeted as they left an IRGC headquarters.
Meanwhile, separate fighting in West Azerbaijan Province resulted in the deaths of four fighters from the East Kurdistan Defense Units, known as the YRK. The group denied any aggression toward the Iranian regime, stating, "We have not taken the side of any power, nor have we launched any attacks against the Iranian regime."
Iran's response was not limited to domestic operations. Iranian forces launched missile and drone strikes against Kurdish opposition party headquarters and residential areas inside Iraqi Kurdistan. The Hengaw Organization reported that at least three female Peshmerga fighters and a 17-year-old civilian were killed in those strikes, with more than 20 others suffering serious injuries.
All of this unfolded against the shadow of Iran's brutal suppression of mass protests earlier in 2026. Demonstrations had erupted on December 28, 2025, in Tehran, driven by economic hardship and a steep decline in the value of the Iranian rial. The unrest quickly spread to cities nationwide. President Masoud Pezeshkian initially acknowledged the economic grievances and called for dialogue.
That tone did not last. On January 8, 2026, security forces launched a sweeping crackdown across multiple provinces. A nationwide internet and telecommunications blackout followed on January 9, the same day then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei addressed the crisis publicly. Iran's Ministry of Health reported at least 30,000 deaths during the initial phase of the response. Human rights organizations offered lower but still staggering estimates, ranging from roughly 12,000 to 20,000 killed. By January 12, the protests had been crushed.
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