Kurdish exiles back Iran protests but deny organizing them

By SALAR SALIM
Associated Press

SULIMANIYAH, Iraq (AP) — Iran has accused Kurdish opposition groups in exile of orchestrating the wave of protests across the country over the past two weeks. But Kurdish activists say the government is just trying to scapegoat them to distract from the domestic anger fueling the unrest. Protests have spread to 40 cities around Iran, sparked by the death of an Iranian Kurdish woman after she was arrested in Tehran by morality police for wearing her headscarf improperly. Multiple Iranian Kurdish groups operate from neighboring northern Iraq and have close ties to the Kurdish majority regions of western Iran — but they say their reach is limited.