Orla Guerin,Senior international correspondent in northern Iraqand

Jaroslav Lukiv

Iran’s military has said it has targeted the headquarters of Iranian Kurdish forces in northern Iraq, stepping up strikes on Kurdish regions in both Iran and Iraq.

In a statement quoted by Iran’s state media, the military said it attacked “Kurdish groups opposed to the revolution in Iraqi Kurdistan with three missiles”.

Tehran is intensifying its attacks on Iranian Kurdish groups in Iraq amid speculation that US President Donald Trump wants them to join the fight against Iran, as US and Israeli strikes continue.

One person was killed and three injured in Iranian strikes on Tuesday and Wednesday on bases belonging to two separate Kurdish opposition groups, the BBC has confirmed.

The BBC has visited the scene of the attacks at these bases.

One base was hit by a ballistic missile at about 11:00 local time (08:00 GMT) on Wednesday, injuring four Kurdish Peshmerga fighters. One died later from his injuries.

One building at the base had been crushed, with rubble and twisted metal strewn over a wide area. There was also a hole in the ground, gouged out by a missile.

At another base – belonging to the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI) – the BBC saw the aftermath of a double drone strike on Tuesday, which was said to have injured one civilian.

A senior political leader of the KDPI told the BBC he believed that the Kurds would be fighting in Iran soon – but did not give an exact timeline.

He would not comment on reports that Trump has spoken to the KDPI leader in recent days.

A fighter called Hassan, 25, armed with an AK-47, said he was eager to go to Iran to fight for freedom.

“We are closer than ever,” he said.

Between 25 and 35 million Kurds inhabit a mountainous region straddling the borders of Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Iran and Armenia. They make up the fourth-largest ethnic group in the Middle East, but they have never obtained a permanent nation state.

About 10% of Shia-Muslim majority Iran’s 84 million population are Kurds, who are mainly Sunni Muslims and live mostly in the country’s north-western regions.

Amnesty International has said that Iranian Kurds have “long suffered deep-rooted discrimination” and that “their social, political and cultural rights have been repressed, as have their economic aspirations”.

Exiled Kurdish opposition groups, which are seeking an independent state or regional autonomy, have in recent years engaged in armed clashes with Iranian security forces from their bases in Iraqi Kurdistan.