Kurdish separatism in Iran

Kurdish separatism in Iran or the Kurdish–Iranian conflict is an ongoing separatist dispute between the Kurdish opposition in Western Iran and the governments of Iran since the emergence of Reza Shah in 1918.

The earliest Kurdish separatist activities in modern times refer to tribal revolts in today's West Azerbaijan Province of the Imperial State of Iran, which began between the two World Wars – the largest of these were led by Simko Shikak, Jafar Sultan and Hama Rashid revolts. Many however, put the starting point of the organized Kurdish political-nationalist separatism at 1943, when Komala (shortly after the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran) began their political activities in Iran with the aim to gain partial or complete autonomy in the Kurdish regions. Transformation from tribal to Kurdish political struggle in Iran took place in the aftermath of World War II, with the KDPI establishing the Republic of Mahabad during the 1946 Iran crisis. The USSR-supported attempt to establish a Kurdish state in Western Iran failed. More than a decade later, peripheral tribal uprisings launched with KDPI support throughout 1966–7. In the most violent episode of the conflict, more than 30,000 Kurds died in the 1979 rebellion and the consequent KDPI insurgency. Though the KDPI's armed struggle ended in late 1996, another Kurdish armed organization emerged in Iran by the early 2000s. The ongoing Iran-PJAK conflict started in 2004.

Though Iran has not been as brutal against its own Kurdish population as its neighbouring countries, it has always staunchly opposed Kurdish separatism.