Trump Urges Iranian Kurds To Attack Iran as War Widens
Dubai/Washington: While US President Donald Trump encouraged Iranian Kurdish forces in Iraq to launch attacks on Iran as the conflict in the Middle East widens, Azerbaijan warned that it would retaliate for being targeted by Iranian missiles.
Israel said on Friday it had launched a “large-scale” wave of attacks on infrastructure targets in Tehran as Gulf cities came under renewed bombardment by Iran.
The seven-day war has now seen Iran target Israel, the Gulf states, Cyprus, Türkiye and Azerbaijan, and expand into the Indian Ocean off Sri Lanka, where a US submarine sank an Iranian navy ship.
Trump told Reuters on Thursday about the possibility of Iranian Kurdish forces entering Iran: “It’s a great thing that they want to do that, I’m all for it.”
Two Iranian drone strikes targeted an Iranian opposition camp in Iraqi Kurdistan on Thursday, security sources said.
Iranian Kurdish militias have held consultations with the United States in recent days about whether and how to attack Iranian security forces in the western part of the country, according to three sources with knowledge of the matter.
The Iranian Kurdish coalition of groups along the Iran-Iraq border in the semi-autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan has been training to launch such an attack in the hope of weakening the country’s military while the United States and Israel hit Iranian targets with bombs and missiles.
Speaking to Reuters by phone, Trump also said the United States should have a role in deciding who will be Iran’s next leader after religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in airstrikes last week.
“We will have to choose that person along with Iran. We will have to choose that person,” he said.
The United States is not expanding its military ambitions in Iran, despite what Trump has said about choosing the country’s next leader, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday.
“There is no expansion of our goals. We know exactly what we are trying to achieve,” he said.
The attack on Iran is a big political gamble for the Republican president; Opinion polls show little support, and Americans are worried about a rise in gasoline prices due to a disruption in energy supplies. Trump dismissed that concern.
Wall Street shares fell on Thursday, driven by rising oil prices as the economic impact of the campaign intensified, with countries around the world missing out on a fifth of the global supply of oil and liquefied natural gas, air travel still facing chaos and global logistics becoming increasingly complex.
Azerbaijan is preparing for retaliation
Azerbaijan was preparing to take unspecified retaliatory measures after it said on Thursday that four Iranian drones crossed its border and injured four people in Nakhchivan.
“We will not tolerate this unprovoked act of terrorism and aggression against Azerbaijan,” President Ilham Aliyev said in his speech at the Security Council meeting.
Iran, which has a significant Azeri minority, has denied targeting its neighbour.
Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah militia warned Israelis to evacuate towns within 5 kilometers (3 miles) of the border between the countries in a message posted on its Hebrew Telegram channel early Friday.
“Your army’s aggression against Lebanese sovereignty and safe citizens, its destruction of civilian infrastructure and its deportation campaign will not be opposed,” Hezbollah said.
US ammunition full
Hegseth and Adm. Brad Cooper, who commands U.S. forces in the Middle East, said during a briefing on operations that the United States has enough munitions to continue its bombardment indefinitely.
“Iran is hoping that we can’t sustain this, which is a really bad miscalculation,” Hegseth told reporters at Central Command headquarters in Florida. “Our ammunition is full and our will is strong.”
The Pentagon announced earlier this week that the military operation, known as Operation Epic Rage, focuses on destroying Iran’s offensive missiles, missile production and navy and does not allow Tehran to acquire nuclear weapons.
Cooper said the United States has now shot down at least 30 Iranian ships, including a large drone ship that he said was the size of a World War II aircraft carrier.
B-2 bombers have dropped dozens of 2,000 penetration bombs in the past few hours targeting deeply buried ballistic missile launchers, he said, adding that the bombings also targeted Iran’s missile production facilities.
Iran’s ballistic missile attacks have decreased by 90 percent since the first day of the war, while drone attacks have decreased by 83 percent during this time period.
According to the Iranian Red Crescent Society, at least 1,230 people were killed in Iran on the first day of the war, including 175 female students and staff killed at a primary school in Minab in the south of the country. The Ministry of Health announced that 77 more people were killed in Lebanon. Thousands of people fled south of Beirut on Thursday after Israel warned residents to leave.
