Live updates: Trump says no deal with Iran until ‘unconditional surrender’

There’s an eerie silence in the streets of the Iranian Kurdish Azadi camp in Northern Iraq. The roads are empty, the windows boarded shut and in the heart of the camp, at the newish-looking colorful playground, there is no laughter.

Since it was revealed that the CIA was working to arm Iranian Kurdish groups ahead of a ground offensive into western Iran, camps like this one, belonging to the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), have become a regular target for not just Iranian drones but also ballistic missiles.

One of the KDPI leaders, Amanj Zibaee, shows us the site of one of those strikes, near the camp’s medical facility.

“No military forces here, nobody, no one,” Zibaee says. “But sure, after the start of this war we had some fighters just to guard and keep our people safe.”

Zibaee says these attacks by Iran have intensified in number and strength over the past few days but they are not a novelty for a group well accustomed to Iranian ire.

The KDPI is part of a coalition of six Iranian Kurdish groups, based in Iraqi Kurdistan, that formed an alliance just days before the US and Israel started bombing Iran. They say they are willing to fight for their objectives of greater rights and autonomy, but the group’s deputy secretary-general, Mustafa Mawlwdi, says they need more guarantees – including weapons – from President Donald Trump and his administration.

“Now Trump is saying if the [Iranian] Kurds go to Iran he would support them,” Mawlwdi explained. “But speaking only is not enough. With only words neither us or anyone else would do it.”

Iran has renewed threats that “all facilities of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq” will be “extensively targeted,” if a single Iranian Kurdish fighter crosses the border, leaving the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government “very worried.”

Tehran certainly seems intent on showing it’s paying attention. A few hours after we left, another message: Iran fired another two missiles and three drones toward the camp.