The Trump administration has been in active discussions with Iranian opposition groups and Kurdish leaders in Iraq about providing them with military support, the sources said.
Iranian Kurdish armed groups have thousands of forces operating along the Iraq-Iran border, primarily in Iraq’s Kurdistan region. Several of the groups have released public statements since the beginning of the war hinting at imminent action and urging Iranian military forces to defect. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been striking Kurdish groups and said on Tuesday that it targeted Kurdish forces with dozens of drones.
CIA has certainly never regretted arming insurgent groups, before…
And the Kurds have never regretted allying themselves with the U.S. before https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgrzd76p4lo
Personal opinion: this news is likely true. I will not tell anyone if this is good or bad news, as it could be both.
Most likely, the CIA has been repeating to Trump and Pentagon like a broken grammophone: “you cannot win by aerial bombardment alone”. It seems that now the CIA got authorization to make promises to Kurds, and have delivered weapons. Kurds however, most likely:
- remember being double-crossed in January (Turkey alerted Iran of their expedition to relieve their Iranian comrades, and the IRGC repelled them in a border clash)
- remember being double-crossed in December (the US allowed the HTS, now called “Syrian government” to surprise and steamroll them)
- remember being double-crossed many times before
They are likely reluctant. According to the sources, they have asked for air support. The source cannot tell if support has been granted. US and Israeli strikes have certainly been above-average intense in Western Iran.
Judging by the most recent speech by Reza Pahlavi, where he addresses all ethnic minorities and regional tribes and promises extensive safeguards to their identity and culture if a new Iran should form, I would estimate that a rift exists between Pahlavi’s faction (they want an intact but democratic Iran) and the Kurdish factions (56 million Kurds are waiting for an opportunity to set up Kurdistan, 10 million of them live in Iran - this could be a condensation nucleus that starts the formation of a country). Reza Pahlavi obviously cannot promise them that, so he’s willing to promise everything else.
As a note: Kurds will not declare statehood quickly at all - they know they must keep a low profile. They know Turkey will attack them if they declare statehood, Iraq will likely attack them, Syria has recently attacked them for mere ambitions of autonomy. They won’t declare anything, but may try to carve out a highly autonomous province and see what happens in practise.
However, they will fear being betrayed again for the umpteenth time, which may reduce their eagerness to stick their head into fire.
And it won’t help the US break open the Hormuz strait, because there are no Kurds living there. They live in the western mountains. If Trump wants Hormuz, US soldiers will have to set their own feet on ground.
Excellent summary. The US has used and abused the Kurds over and over again. While they’d be crazy to not take their opportunity to establish some territorial autonomy, they’d have to be utter fools to trust the US not to stab them in the back again.
How our government has treated and backstabbed the Kurds in the last decade or so is an absolute travesty.
in the last decade or so
“or so” is lifting a lot there, like a couple more decades.
Not that I’m disagreeing with you; rather, a “yes, but also”. heh. :/
“you cannot win by aerial bombardment alone”
Win what?
Netanyahu’s approval? Doesn’t seem like there’s any plan besides that. No goals, no exit strategy, no exercises in democracy, just
1 kill all the leaders 2 ??? 3 Profit.
The peace prize ofcourse.
Didnt trump betray the kurds like not that long ago?
It’s on the GOP President’s Must-Do list going back to Bush Sr:
- Cause a financial crisis
- Start a war in the Middle East
- Inflame racial tensions
- Betray the Kurds
“BuT tEh DeMoCrAtS lEfT uS sUcH a MeSs To cLeAn Up”
(Always referring to whatever fresh hell they were up to the last time they were in the seat)
cause a war- to distract from internal political turmoil: epstein files, BBB tax raises, cuts to social programs. its to distract the r voting plebs. icing on top, legislate anti-transphobic laws.
Yes. And they will remember that. This is every single time we have interfered with Iran’s government all happening again all at once. Expect similar results.
sun rises in the east US betrays the Kurds
I don’t trust a single word out of the lying imperialists’ mouth, and from what I’m hearing, Kurdish leaders about had it as well
Hey if he is willing to give em weapons, supplies and gear then they should take it all and then sit on their hands.
That would be the funniest shit
Where have I see this movie before?
Isn’t this exactly what we did that caused 9/11?
Some people learn from past actions to make better decisions, but this current administration is against learning.
This can only end well…… right?
Fool me once, shame on… shame on you. Fool me—you can’t get fooled again…
Who had Kurds on their 2026 bingo card?
Headline should read, " Stand by for future wave of ISIS and Taliban".
The Kurds have never been part of ISIS or the Taliban.
No, the Kurds are the ethnicity that always sides with the US, and then the US abandons them.
Been happening since at least the 1920s.
We make all the bad guys! Then blame them and use them!
after the success of contras in nicaragua/colombia, mujahideen in afghanistan, and many other places that don’t come to mind right away, we bring you… kurds in iran! i mean trump will definetely not be around to see the long term effects, and maybe hegseth is also dead by the time it peters out, so all fine, right?
If you can’t destabilise them one way, change your strategy and try again! 😞
Kurds are always happy to be used as pawns by the US
Kurds using new weapons to stage terrorist attacks in Turkey in 3… 2…
Isn’t this how we got 9/11?
That was different because it was a few years ago.
It’s how we got Rambo III.
Not at all? Bin Laden was furious at Middle Eastern countries cooperating with hosting the US military (the Great Satan).
If you’re talking about the ties to Mujahideen, Afghanistan was just a friendly host country since Bin Laden was seen as a problem by the Saudi royal family.
