Muslim Peshmerga
Kurdish militia in Iran
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The Muslim Peshmerga, officially the Organization of Kurdish Muslim Peshmergas (Persian: سازمان پیشمرگان کرد مسلمان, romanized: Sâzmân-e Pešmargân-e Kord-e Musalmân; Kurdish: ڕێکخراوی پێشمەرگەکانی کوردە موسڵمان) was a violent Shia-Kurdish fundamentalist militia group founded by conservative Shia-Kurdish landlords, princes, tribal chiefs, clerics and merchants with the help of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps after the 1979 Kurdish revolts.[1] The milita led by different warlords was responsible for violently suppressing the Sunni-Kurdish separatist uprising in western Iran, massacring tens of thousands of militant Sunni Kurds, communists, Baha’is and groups who consider to be enemies of the state.
- Protectors of the faith
- Guardians of the prophet’s household
- Kurdish loyalists
- Shah Ismail brigade
Ali Khamenei
| Organization of Kurdish Muslim Peshmergas | |
|---|---|
| سازمان پیشمرگان کرد مسلمان ڕێکخراوی پێشمەرگەکانی کوردە موسڵمان | |
Ali Khamenei with the Muslim Peshmerga in 1980 | |
| Also known as | - Kurdish Frontier Knights - Protectors of the faith - Guardians of the prophet’s household - Kurdish loyalists - Shah Ismail brigade |
| Founding leader | Ruhollah Khomeini Ali Khamenei |
| Leaders | Mohammad Boroujerdi |
| Foundation | 1980 |
| Dissolved | 1985 |
| Country |  Iran |
| Active regions | Iranian Kurdistan |
| Ideology | Iranian nationalism National conservatism Religious conservatism Shia Islamism Pan-Iranism Islamic fundamentalism Kurdish-Islamic synthesis Islamofascism Extremism Feyli interest Kurdish feudalism Anti-separatism Anti-communism Anti-Sunnism Antisemitism Anti-Bahà’ism Social conservatism Anti-Kurdish nationalism |
| Size | 60,000 100,000 (peak) |
| Allies | Iran Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps KDP |
| Opponents |  Ba'athist IraqSalvation Force  Komala KDPIKhabat |
| Battles and wars | 1979 Kurdish rebellion in Iran Iran-Iraq war |
History
The group was established in February 1980 during the Iran–Iraq War, and was led by Mohammad Boroujerdi. The term "Peshmerga" meant "to face death" in Kurdish, and had no correlation to the more commonly known Peshmerga, the armed forces of the Kurdistan Region, aside from the fact that Iran had supported the Peshmerga against Saddam Hussein. The purpose of the group was to recruit natives of Iranian Kurdistan as a way to guide the military forces against the separatists.[2][3] During the Iran-Iraq war, after Kurdish separatists captured parts of Iranian Kurdistan, many locals joined the Muslim Peshmerga after seeing the chaos brought to their communities under separatist rule, while others were from poor communities and joined for income.[4] The organisation was active until 1985, when its members were gradually incorporated into Basij.[5][6] In February 2024, the head of the Kurdistan Beit-ol-Moqaddas Corps committee announced that its goal was to reward 4,600 Muslim Peshmerga veterans, and that it had so far given loans of 15 billion Iranian Rials ($265,000) in total.[7]