Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement on Monday that it foiled an attempt to smuggle a large shipment of US-made weapons and ammunition into the country.
"Counter-revolutionary terror groups based in north Iraq, acting on behalf of the US and Zionist regime, intended to transfer a large shipment of brand-new US weapons and ammunition into the country. They were targeted and struck in Baneh, Kurdistan Province. Large quantities of weapons and ammunition were discovered and confiscated," the statement said.
The statement added that intelligence efforts are ongoing to identify and arrest all internal collaborators allegedly linked to the armed groups.
The IRGC Hamzeh Sayyed al-Shuhada Headquarters warned "all mercenary elements, their agents, and their leaders that any security-related action will be met with severe force, and … a regret inducing response."
The announcement comes as Washington has been seeking to arm separatist Iranian Kurdish groups in order to destabilize the Islamic Republic. At the start of the war, reports said that US President Donald Trump was seeking to turn Kurdish militias into a "ground force" within Iran.
Kurdish groups opposed to the Islamic Republic denied last month US claims that Washington armed their fighters during the January 2026 unrest in Iran.
Last week, Trump slammed Iranian Kurds for "stealing" US weapons and failing to deliver them to "protesters" and dissidents who, according to Washington, were willing to fight against Iranian forces.
"The Kurds take, take, take," the president told reporters, adding that they "kept" the weapons and "only fight hard when they get paid."
Iranian Kurds were heavily involved in the 2022 armed riots, which broke out in Iran following the death of Mahsa Amini. Former US national security advisor John Bolton openly admitted that year that weapons from the Iraqi Kurdistan region were being smuggled into Iran for separatists to use against government troops.
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Kurdish groups also participated in this year's unrest in January, during which thousands of people were killed, including security forces, armed anti-government rioters, and civilians.
After the US-Israeli war erupted in February, Iraqi-based, Iranian Kurdish militias came under heavy missile and drone attacks – from both Tehran and its allies in the Iraqi resistance.