IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — Kurdish Iranian dissident teams primarily based in northern Iraq are making ready for a possible cross-border navy operation in Iran, and the U.S. has requested Iraqi Kurds to help them, Kurdish officers informed The Related Press.
The Kurdish teams are broadly seen as essentially the most well-organized phase of the fragmented Iranian opposition and are believed to have hundreds of skilled fighters. Their entry into the war may pose a major problem to the embattled authorities in Tehran and will additionally danger pulling Iraq additional into the battle.
Khalil Nadiri, an official with the Kurdistan Freedom Occasion, or PAK, primarily based in northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish area, mentioned Wednesday that a few of their forces had moved to areas close to the Iranian border in Sulaymaniyah province and had been on standby.
He mentioned Kurdish opposition group leaders had been contacted by U.S. officers relating to a possible operation, with out giving extra particulars.
Requested about studies that the Trump administration was contemplating arming Iranian Kurdish teams, Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth informed reporters Wednesday: “None of our goals are premised on the help or the arming of any specific power. So, what different entities could also be doing, we’re conscious of, however our goals aren’t centered on that.”
Earlier than the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Saturday, triggering a brand new struggle within the Center East, the PAK had claimed assaults on the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in retaliation for Tehran’s violent crackdown on protests. However an official with the group mentioned it had not despatched forces from Iraq into Iran.
If the Iranian and Iraqi Kurdish teams had been to hitch the struggle, it might be the primary entry of a major floor power into the battle. The Kurdish teams have battle expertise from the struggle towards the Islamic State group.
An official with Komala, one other of the Kurdish Iranian teams, mentioned Wednesday that their forces are able to cross the border inside per week to 10 days and had been “ready for the grounds to be appropriate.” He spoke on situation of anonymity out of safety considerations.
Kurds in Iran have an extended historical past of grievances and uprisings towards each the present Islamic Republic and the monarchy that preceded it. Through the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi Kurds had been marginalized and repressed and generally rebelled.
After Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, the brand new theocracy additionally battled Kurdish insurgents. Iranian forces destroyed Kurdish cities and villages in combating that killed hundreds over a number of months.
Whereas they share a need to see the present authorities ousted, the Kurdish teams have additionally butted heads with different opposition groups — notably the faction led by the previous shah’s son, Reza Pahlavi, who has accused the Kurds of being separatists aiming to carve up Iran.
Iraqi Kurds hesitant to hitch the fray
The potential operation has put leaders of the Iraqi Kurdish area in a fragile place.
Three Iraqi Kurdish officers informed the AP {that a} name passed off Sunday night time between U.S. President Donald Trump and Masoud Barzani and Bafel Talabani — the heads of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, or KDP, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, or PUK, the 2 principal Kurdish events in Iraq — to debate the scenario in Iran.
They spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of they weren’t licensed to remark publicly.
One of many officers mentioned Trump had requested the Iraqi Kurds to militarily help the Iranian Kurdish teams in operations in Iran and to open the border to permit the Iranian Kurdish teams to maneuver freely backwards and forwards.
When requested in regards to the name and studies that Trump has sought navy help for Iranian Kurdish teams, White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt mentioned: “He did converse to Kurdish leaders with respect to our base that we’ve in northern Iraq,” however denied that Trump had agreed to a selected plan.
The Iraqi Kurdish official mentioned the Iraqi Kurds had been involved that getting instantly concerned within the battle would draw a harsh Iranian response. Already the Kurdish area has seen a string of drone and missile assaults by Iran and allied Iraqi militias in latest days, concentrating on U.S. navy bases and the U.S. Consulate in Irbil in addition to the Kurdish teams’ bases.
Whereas many of the assaults have been intercepted, civilian houses have been broken, and the area is affected by electrical energy cuts after a key gasoline discipline halted operations attributable to safety considerations.
In a press release, the PUK confirmed that Talabani had spoken by cellphone with Trump, who “supplied clarification and imaginative and prescient relating to U.S. goals within the struggle.” The assertion mentioned the PUK “believes that the very best resolution is a return to the negotiating desk.”
Spokespeople for the Kurdish regional authorities in Iraq and for Barzani declined to remark.
The information web site Axios first reported the decision between Trump and the Kurdish leaders, and CNN reported that the Trump administration was in discussions with Kurdish teams over offering navy help.
Iraq strikes to seal the border
The presence of armed Iranian Kurdish teams in northern Iraq has been a degree of friction between the central Iraqi authorities in Baghdad and Tehran.
Iraq in 2023 reached an agreement with Iran to disarm the groups and transfer them from their bases close to the border areas with Iran — the place they probably posed an armed problem to Tehran — into camps designated by Baghdad.
Their navy bases had been shut down and their motion inside Iraq restricted, however the teams didn’t surrender their weapons.
Iraq’s Nationwide Safety Adviser Qassim al-Araji mentioned in a submit on X that Ali Bagheri, deputy secretary of Iran’s Supreme Nationwide Safety Council, had requested in a name between them “that Iraq take the required measures to stop any opposition teams from infiltrating the border between the 2 nations.”
Al-Araji mentioned Iraq is dedicated to “stopping any teams from infiltrating or crossing the Iranian border or finishing up terrorist acts from Iraqi territory” and famous that safety reinforcements had been despatched to the border.
Along with retaliation by Iran, any motion by Iraqi Kurds to hitch a cross-border assault would seemingly inflame tensions with Iran-backed Iraqi militias, which have already claimed missile and drone strikes on Irbil in latest days.
Abdul-Zahra reported from Baghdad. Abby Sewell in Beirut and Konstantin Toropin and Michelle Worth in Washington contributed.
