The collisional kinetics of upper state formation for the iodine monofluoride (IF) discharge pumped laser have been studied using tunable dye laser absorption spectroscopy. As for electron‐ beam excitation, the immediate precursor to IF*(D′) is found to be the I*(6s4P) species. Energy stored in the F*(4P) states, however, is not recovered in the laser’s output due to weak F*→I* collisional coupling. Limited tunability of this laser has been demonstrated with a Littrow prism and has resulted in the observation of a newD′→A′laser transition at 467 nm.