Piranshahr; Slain Peshmerga Families Summoned to Intelligence Department, Phones Confiscated to Post Images of Khamenei
July 4, 2026; Marking four days since the deaths of six Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) Peshmerga in clashes with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), several families of the victims in Piranshahr were summoned to the local Intelligence Department. Alongside being subjected to insults and intimidation, authorities forcibly confiscated the mobile phones of multiple family members to broadcast images of Ali Khamenei across their personal social media profiles.
An informed source confirmed the details to Kurdpa, stating: Today, Saturday, July 4, 2026, several families of the fallen KDPI Peshmerga in Piranshahr, West Azerbaijan Province, were summoned to the city's Intelligence Department. Security personnel subjected them to highly disrespectful treatment and used threats to demand access to their mobile devices and passwords. When the families resisted, security operatives seized the phones by force and proceeded to upload images of Khamenei onto the families' private social media networks.
The source added that an image of Khamenei was uploaded to the Instagram story of a family member of the deceased Peshmerga, "Fardin Changizi," who operates as a social media blogger. According to the source, the phone and the Instagram account remain entirely under the control of the security apparatus. The mobile devices of several other family members were similarly confiscated and have not yet been returned.
On July 2, 2026, it was reported that six Peshmerga belonging to the KDPI’s clandestine networks—identified as Karo Hormozyari, Fardin Changizi, Mohammad Khaki, Abdullah Mohammadpour, Tawana Osmani, and Mohammad-Amin Bayazidi—lost their lives during an IRGC ambush in Qazqapan village near Piranshahr. Security and state authorities have subjected their bodies to enforced disappearance by refusing to return them, while concurrently threatening the families against hosting public mourning services or receiving visitors.