U.S., Kurds Discuss Potential Iran Military Operation, Sources Say

WASHINGTON, March 3 (Reuters) – Iranian Kurdish militias have consulted 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.

While the United States and Israel are hitting Iranian targets with bombs and missiles, the Iranian Kurdish coalition of groups along the Iran-Iraq border in the semi-autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan is training to launch such an attack in the hope of weakening the country’s military.

The goal will be to create space for an uprising by Iranians opposed to the Islamic regime following the killings of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other senior officials since the US-Israeli offensive began on Saturday, two sources said.

The sources, who could speak freely about sensitive military planning on condition of anonymity, added that no final decision has yet been made on the operation and its possible timing.

It was stated that the groups requested military support from the United States and that Iraqi leaders in Erbil and Baghdad have been in contact with the Trump administration in recent days.

Two of the sources said the forces were in talks with the United States about CIA assistance in providing weapons.

CNN was the first to report on the CIA’s involvement in the groups and the potential ground operation. Axios reported this week that President Trump had a phone call with two senior leaders of Iraqi Kurdistan.

Reuters could not independently verify the extent of CIA involvement in the planning of the operation, whether the weapons were supplied by the CIA, or whether any US forces planned to go to Iran with Kurdish groups.

The CIA declined to comment. The White House and Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Kurdish Regional Government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Any operation from Iraq would likely require significant US military and intelligence support.

Two US bases in Erbil support the international coalition fighting Islamic State militants, the Pentagon said.

Kurdish groups in Iraqi Kurdistan have a long history of working with the United States, but their shifting allegiances and ideologies have occasionally strained ties with Washington.

The United States worked with some Kurdish groups in Iraq both during the Iraq War and the fight against ISIS.

However, it is not clear how successful Iranian Kurdish groups will be in their struggle within Iran. The group’s warriors have varying degrees of experience on the battlefield.

A source quoted by CNN said the plan would be for Kurdish armed forces to clash with Iranian security forces to facilitate an uprising of unarmed Iranians in the country’s cities.

It is not clear exactly how such an operation by the Kurds against Iran will be received by the countries in the region.

An armed uprising by Iranian Kurds could have serious consequences for Iran’s stability.

This could fuel an armed separatist movement among the country’s ethnic Baloch minority, which maintains close ties to separatists in Pakistan’s neighboring province of Balochistan.

Islamabad is unlikely to tolerate any move towards Baloch independence.

Turkey, a strong supporter of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, sees the integration agreement between Damascus and Kurdish forces as critical to restoring state authority across Syria.

It had threatened to launch its own military operation against the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Forces (SDF) in the north if the group did not agree to come under central government control.

Ankara is working to advance its long-running efforts to secure peace with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and is unlikely to sympathize with the arming of Kurdish groups close to its borders. (Reporting by Erin Banco, Humeyra Pamuk and Jonathan Landay; Editing by Don Durfee and Clarence Fernandez)