News has emerged that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is considering supporting Kurdish armed forces to encourage a popular uprising inside Iran.
On the 3rd (local time), the U.S. CNN broadcast, citing multiple sources, reported that the U.S. Donald Trump administration is actively discussing providing military support with Iranian anti-government forces and Iraqi Kurdish leaders.
According to Axios, which first reported this news, President Trump reportedly spoke with Iraqi Kurdish leaders on the phone on the 1st to discuss ways to cooperate with the Kurds in the US operation against Iran.
Mazloum Haftan of the Iranian armed group Kurdistan Party for Freedom and Life (PJAK) at a scene near the Iraqi border. Photo = AFP Yonhap News” style=”cursor:pointer;” itemprop=”image”/>The Kurds are an Iranian minority group living dispersedly in Turkmenistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Armenia. It is the world’s largest ethnic group without an official nation and its population is estimated at around 25 to 30 million.
When the United States launched an operation against Iran, the Kurds issued a public statement and called for Iranian soldiers to desert. Accordingly, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is said to have carried out airstrikes against Kurdish groups using dozens of drones while countering US attacks.
Accordingly, the Trump administration appears to be trying to trigger a popular uprising by providing armed support for the Kurds, a flashpoint for Iran’s anti-government energy.
President Trump reportedly spoke on the phone with Mustafa Hijri, head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDPI), which the IRGC attacked. “Our rebels are expected to participate in ground operations in western Iran in the coming days,” a senior Iranian Kurdish official told CNN.
An official familiar with the discussions said, “The goal is for the Kurdish armed forces to suppress and surround the Iranian security forces and force unarmed Iranian citizens to take to the streets without suffering massacres like the unrest in Iran last January.”
U.S. intelligence predicted that this operation could help weaken the Iranian regime’s military power by causing regional chaos.
However, experts warned that if this operation is not successful and the U.S. military withdraws again, it may be difficult to regain the trust of the Kurds.
The United States has relied heavily on Kurdish forces in its operations against Islamic State (IS) forces in Iraq and Syria. However, in October 2019, when the first Trump administration withdrew U.S. troops from the Turkiye border area with Syria, a sense of betrayal toward the U.S. spread among the Kurds.
“If the uprising fails and the United States withdraws, there is concern that this will further reinforce the perception that the Kurds have been abandoned,” warned Alex Plitchas, a security analyst who was a senior Pentagon official under former President Barack Obama.
There were also voices of concern about armed support. “We are already faced with an unstable security situation on both sides of the border,” said Jen Gavito, a former senior State Department official and Middle East expert under former President Joe Biden. “I am concerned that support could undermine Iraq’s sovereignty and empower armed militias whose responsibilities are unclear and whose consequences are poorly understood.”
Reporter Seo Hee-won shw@etnews.com
