The CIA is reportedly working on plans to arm Kurdish forces in a bid to stir a popular uprising inside Iran, multiple individuals familiar with the matter have told CNN.
According to the sources, the Trump administration has been engaged in active discussions with Iranian opposition groups as well as Kurdish leaders in Iraq over the possibility of providing military assistance, reports CNN.
Iranian Kurdish armed factions maintain thousands of fighters along the Iraq-Iran frontier, with most operating from Iraq’s Kurdistan region. Since the outbreak of the war, several of these groups have issued public statements signalling imminent action and calling on Iranian military personnel to defect.
Meanwhile, 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.
Also on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump spoke with Mustafa Hijri, president of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI), according to a senior Iranian Kurdish official. KDPI has previously been one of the groups targeted by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The senior Kurdish official told CNN that Iranian Kurdish opposition forces are expected to participate in a ground operation in western Iran in the coming days.
“We believe we have a big chance now,” the official said, outlining the timing of the planned mission. The source added that the militias anticipate support from US and Israel.
Earlier, Trump contacted Iraqi Kurdish leaders on Sunday to discuss the US military operation in Iran and explore ways for the US and Kurdish forces to coordinate as the mission unfolds, according to two US officials and a third source familiar with the discussions, as first reported by Axios.
Any initiative to supply Iranian Kurdish groups with arms would require the support of Iraqi Kurds, enabling the weapons to transit through and utilise Iraqi Kurdistan as a launching ground.
One person familiar with the conversations explained that the plan would involve Kurdish armed forces engaging Iranian security units to hold them in place, thereby allowing unarmed Iranians in major cities to mobilise without facing massacres similar to the unrest in January.
Another US official said Kurdish forces could help create disorder in the region, stretching the Iranian regime’s military resources.
Other proposals have considered whether the Kurds could capture and retain territory in northern Iran, potentially establishing a buffer zone for Israel.
The CIA declined to comment on the matter.
