Iranian Kurdish armed groups are in talks with the Trump administration about whether they could play a role in the ongoing US-Israeli military campaign against the Iranian regime.
This has involved conversations about whether to attack Iranian security forces in a possible ground offensive led by the groups from Iraqi territory, where they are based, people familiar with the discussions have said.
The groups have asked for US intelligence, weapons and training support, as well as a no-fly zone, according to two of the people familiar, speaking on condition of anonymity to talk freely about unconfirmed military operations. There had been no agreement on that request, the people said.
One of the people said the CIA had been leading the efforts. Two people categorised the efforts as a joint Israeli-US initiative.
The CIA declined to comment. A former CIA official said the agency “has a very good relationship with Iranian Kurds, and has for many years”.
The White House declined to comment on US engagement with the Iranian Kurdish groups or any specific conversations. “President Trump has been in contact with many allies and partners in the region throughout the past several days,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
Donald Trump spoke with Iranian Kurdish leaders this week, according to two of the people familiar. This included a phone call with a senior figure in the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), one of the oldest Iranian Kurdish dissident groups — a reported first by a US president.
Trump also spoke to Iraqi Kurdish leaders, according to two of the people familiar, including Bafel Talabani, the leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), who publicly confirmed that Trump had “clarified the objectives of the United States in the current war”, but did not elaborate.
Iranian Kurdish dissident groups have been engaged in a low-intensity conflict with the regime in Tehran over their desire for greater autonomy since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday they had destroyed Iranian Kurdish groups’ positions in Iraq, accusing them of “planning to infiltrate and carry out operations against” Iran. Several groups told the FT that their barracks had come under attack.
Trump has offered conflicting remarks about the support he is willing to provide to Iranian opposition groups, after encouraging them to take over the government following the US and Israel’s bombing campaign.
He said this week that he had fulfilled his promise to the Iranian people, and what came next was “up to” them. He also distanced himself from Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s last Shah, who has declared himself the “leader” of a hypothetical transitional government in Iran. Trump said “somebody from within [Iran] maybe would be more appropriate”.
Trump also said this week that other “candidates” inside Iran whom he had identified to take over the Iranian government had been killed in the offensive.
Republican senator Kevin Cramer said the administration had no plan to ensure that a transition to a new Iranian government occurred. “That might be a desirable outcome, but it’s not one of their tactical or strategic goals at this point, or ever, for that matter,” he said.
Some analysts questioned whether reports of US support for Iranian Kurdish groups had been exaggerated to apply pressure on the regime. Others expressed scepticism that Washington would be willing to provide meaningful, material support.
Any attempt to arm Iranian Kurdish groups would need support from Iraqi Kurds to let the weapons transit and use Iraqi Kurdistan as a launching ground.
Sanam Vakil, Middle East director at Chatham House, questioned whether Iraqi Kurdish leaders, Baghdad and Syria would ever allow it: “It would be a security crisis of epic proportions; it doesn’t make sense.”
It would also anger Ankara, which has thousands of troops deployed throughout Iraqi Kurdistan, where it has been battling a decades-long insurgency against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told local media on Wednesday that Ankara was monitoring the situation closely. The PKK is closely allied to one of the largest of the Iranian armed groups, the Kurdistan Free Life Party, or PJAK.
Ahun Chiako, a member of PJAK’s leadership council, did not rule out military operations if they aligned with the group’s goals of “liberation and freedom of our people”. But he said PJAK had not had any talks with the White House or US military officials, rather only with “friends in the United States”.
Iraqi government officials said Baghdad was deeply concerned by the support it believed the US was providing to Iranian Kurds, likening it to US covert support to Afghan jihadis in the 1980s.
Ethnic Kurds live across Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq, but lack their own state. Most Kurds are Sunni Muslims, but the Kurdish population has diverse cultural, social, religious and political traditions as well as a variety of dialects.
Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has allowed members of the Iranian Kurdish groups — whose numbers are estimated from the hundreds to the low thousands — to operate in Iraqi Kurdistan, while also maintaining a working relationship with Tehran and its allies in Baghdad.
Analysts and regional security officials say these groups have long been supported by Israel and the US, namely the CIA — accusations they, and the KRG deny — and have led incursions into Iran during periods of instability.
In recent years, Iran has struck what it called an Israeli “espionage centre” in Erbil, and launched dozens of drones and ballistic missiles at Iranian Kurdish groups’ bases. Iraqi Shia militias backed by Iran have attacked the region’s main gasfields over the past year.
“Every time there’s a political crisis, aside from people rising up, particularly in the Kurdish areas, there are armed groups that come in,” said Vali Nasr, a professor at Johns Hopkins University.
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi spoke to veteran Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani on Wednesday. “The two sides also discussed strengthening co-operation . . . in line with protecting the security of borders and preventing any exploitation by third parties to destabilise the region,” a readout from Iran’s foreign ministry said.
Two of the people familiar said the groups were keen to seize on the chaos fomented by the war and the killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. One person said the chaos created by such an operation could sap Tehran’s military resources at a crucial time.
Analysts point to the US and Israel striking more than a dozen cities across Kurdish-majority areas of Iran this week, including Revolutionary Guards targets and border crossings, suggesting the groundwork could be laid for an operation.
Iran and its allied proxies in Iraq had also mounted dozens of attacks on the KRG since the outbreak of hostilities on Saturday, primarily targeting US military installations, the US consulate and barracks belonging to the Iranian Kurdish dissident groups, Kurdish officials and people familiar said.
The talks between the Iranian Kurdish groups and Washington have raised alarm in the Iraqi Kurdish regional capital of Erbil, where officials fear more attacks.
One official said the KRG had urged the Iranian Kurdish groups to avoid “escalating this and [dragging Kurdistan] into the fight”.
“For the most part, they are sensitive to the impact of that,” the official said.
Additional reporting by Andrew England in London