Kurdish-American Consultations on Potential Attacks on Iran

SadaNews - In recent days, armed Kurdish groups in Iran have held consultations with the United States regarding the potential for launching attacks against Iranian security forces in the west of the country and how to carry them out, according to Reuters on Wednesday.

This planning comes in parallel with American and Israeli strikes inside Iran, at a time when Kurdish groups, based on the Iranian-Iraqi border in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq, are seeking to weaken the capabilities of the Iranian military and prepare the ground for a potential uprising by opposition figures following the assassination of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other senior officials.

Informed sources stated that the groups requested military and intelligence support from the United States, including potential arming through the CIA, while no final decision has been made regarding the timing or details of the operation.

Sources confirmed that Iraqi leaders in Erbil and Baghdad have been in constant contact with President Donald Trump's administration to follow up on the matter.

The CIA declined to comment. The White House and the U.S. Department of Defense (Pentagon) have not yet responded to requests for comment. The Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq has also not responded to a request for comment.

CNN was the first to report the news of CIA communication with these groups and the potential ground operation. Axios reported this week that Trump had a phone call with two senior leaders in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

The United States has worked with some Kurdish groups in Iraq during the Iraq War and the battle against ISIS. However, it is unclear how successful the Iranian Kurdish groups could be in their fight within Iran. The fighters of these groups have varying degrees of battlefield experience.

The Kurdish initiative faces significant challenges on both military and political levels, as it remains uncertain how capable these groups are of achieving field success within Iran, given the differing experiences among their fighters and the potential impact on regional stability, especially with other armed minorities such as the Baluch in Iran and Pakistan and warnings from Turkey regarding Kurdish groups in neighboring Syria.

Developments suggest that any Kurdish operation inside Iran would require broad support from the United States, akin to the historical cooperation between Washington and Iraqi Kurdish groups during the Iraq War and combating ISIS, but it could carry significant risks to regional stability.