US officials are reportedly considering support for Kurdish armed groups as part of efforts to increase pressure on Iran, CNN reported.
This comes in the context of a large-scale US-Israeli military operation against Tehran launched last month, which triggered Iranian retaliation against several targets across the Middle East, escalating a conflict that has already killed over 1,200 people, including civilians, according to Reuters.
Kurdish factions linked to Iranian opposition movements maintain several thousand fighters along the Iran-Iraq border, many of them based in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region in the north of the country.
According to CNN, the administration of US President Donald Trump has been in contact with Iranian and Iraqi Kurdish leaders about possible military assistance.
Amid reports that Kurdish groups could join operations against Tehran, Iran struck the headquarters of Iranian Kurdish opposition fighters in northern Iraq with three missiles.
Possible Kurdish Ground Incursion
US intelligence contacts with Kurdish groups had already begun several months before the conflict erupted.
According to CNN, any effort to arm Iranian Kurdish groups would require support from Iraqi Kurdish authorities to allow weapons to transit through Iraqi Kurdistan and use the region as a staging ground.
A US official told the broadcaster that Kurdish groups could help stretch Iran’s military resources by engaging its forces on the ground, including seizing and holding territory in northern Iran that could serve as a buffer zone near Israel.
One source said the idea would be for Kurdish fighters to engage Iranian security forces to tie them down, potentially allowing protests to spread in major cities without the violent crackdowns seen during the unrest in January and increasing pressure on Iran’s leadership.
Al-Monitor also reported that US-backed Kurdish forces may take part in ground operations by crossing into Iran from Iraqi Kurdistan.
Sources cited by the news outlet said Kurdish fighters, supplied with weapons and equipment, could attempt to cross the border “within days.”
The plan would aim to increase pressure on Iran by opening additional fronts for its security forces, potentially encouraging unrest among other Iranian ethnic minorities, such as the Baloch and Azeri communities.
Iraqi officials, however, have signaled opposition to any cross-border action launched from Iraqi territory.
Iraq’s national security adviser Qasim al-Araji said Baghdad would not allow armed groups to enter Iran from Iraq to conduct attacks, adding that security forces had been deployed along sections of the border to reinforce controls and prevent infiltration.
The CIA declined to comment on the issue of possible support for Kurdish groups, while US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Washington’s objectives are not based on arming any specific regional force, CNN reported.
