Summary
The Haji Omeran border crossing reopened on Sunday, and Iranians in the Kurdish borderlands began crossing into Iraq’s northern Kurdish region for practical needs tied to the war’s pressure on everyday life, according to interviews in and around the crossing area. The reopening marked the first day the route had been open since war struck Iran, travelers said, enabling them to buy groceries at lower prices, get access to communications, and look for work. For many families, the border is also a link to relatives and familiar networks in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Travelers described a picture of strain inside Iran that includes frequent bombardments and rapidly rising food costs. They said the combination has left people with fewer options, pushing them toward the nearby market towns and border traffic flowing through Haji Omeran. “When this border was closed, it affected everyone. Poor people, rich people, workers,” said Khider Chomani, a truck driver traveling from the Kurdish region toward Iran carrying goods.
The route’s role goes beyond shoppers and it also reflects long-standing connections between Iran’s Kurdish communities and Iraq’s northern Kurdish region. Even before the United States and Israel launched their war against Iran, Iranian Kurds “routinely crossed” into Iraqi Kurdistan, sharing familial, cultural and economic ties across porous borders, the report said. In the current phase of the conflict, Iraqi Kurdistan has become, for some, a key pathway to the outside world.
Several travelers said access to the internet and phone contact has become a central reason for crossing. A Kurdish woman from Piranshahr said she went to make a call because “In most of Iran there is no internet.” She said her relatives had not heard from her for more than 16 days, prompting her trip; she also said many Iranians buy Iraqi SIM cards and gather near the frontier to connect when internet outages leave them unable to reach family and friends abroad.
The woman said she went on Sunday to the market in the town next to the crossing to buy groceries at what she described as “a fraction of the cost” in her home area of Piranshahr. She named basic staples, including rice and cooking oil, describing them as prohibitively expensive in Iran amid wartime inflation. About half an hour later, she crossed back with two plastic bags of groceries while her children waited for her in Piranshahr, she said.
Other accounts highlighted the financial and family fallout of war conditions. An elderly woman veiled in a black shawl, dressed against rain, said she traveled from Sardasht in Iran’s West Azerbaijan province to reach Choman in Iraq’s Kurdish region, about 40 kilometers from the border. She said she was seeking distant relatives and help, and she described the household consequences of her son’s death: her son, a cross-border goods smuggler, was shot and killed by Iranian soldiers 14 months earlier, leaving the family without a provider and caring for three children, the eldest just five.
With food prices surging, she said she was struggling to feed the children and described being about two months behind on rent, owing roughly $200. She told the Associated Press through tears that she had “no one there to help me survive,” and she said “The war made things worse — everything is more expensive.” She said she could not call ahead and hoped her relatives could assist, and later waited in the rain for a passing car to take her onward.
In addition to family visits and shopping trips, some crossings served as short-term labor and income strategies for people working in Iraqi Kurdistan. Iranian workers from three cities said they were returning to jobs in the region and planned to stay for a month to earn enough money to manage rising costs at home. One worker said, “The situation will only become worse and civilians will be the only ones affected,” adding that workers left “kids and wives” to come work in order to make money.
Residents described the conflict’s impact on security routines and movement. The report said Iranian Kurds living near sites used by Iranian authorities told of being forced to flee bombardments to safer areas. A house painter in Urmia who works in Irbil described constant bombardment as “a fact of life,” saying he returned briefly to reassure his mother and told her the family had no links to Iranian authorities. Another metal factory worker, the report said, asked his family in Urmia to relocate; they arrived on Sunday and rested at a roadside restaurant while the worker worked in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Several interviewees also described changes in how Iranian security forces operate. They said that after repeated strikes, forces no longer stayed in fixed bases, with personnel moving to shelters such as schools and hospitals or staying mobile in vehicles rather than reporting to official offices. One person described security behavior in direct terms: “They don’t stay in their offices,” the report said. “They stay in their cars, under bridges, in schools and hospitals. They drive around. Their bases are destroyed.”
Many Iranian Kurds interviewed for the report asked to remain anonymous, the Associated Press said, citing fears of reprisals from Iranian intelligence and its monitoring of people who speak to the media. The crossing’s reopening thus brought both opportunity and risk, as civilians sought to use border access for food, connectivity, and help while describing a wider environment shaped by bombardment, disrupted security, and economic pressure.