Trump administration pushing Iranian Kurdish groups to 'take over' western Iran

The United States and Israel are preparing to back an uprising by Iranian Kurdish opposition factions to control western Iran, referred to by Kurds as "Rojhelat", within weeks, making it a position for further offensives against Iran, two well-informed Kurdish sources have told The New Arab under condition of anonymity.

US and Israeli jets reportedly conducted extensive strikes against positions of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as well as Iranian army and intelligence facilities, in Kurdish-majority areas such as Banah, Kermanshah, Mariwan, and Sanandaj.

"Soon after the heavy bombardments conclude, there will be rebellions inside the Kurdish cities and towns, as fighters from Iranian Kurdish political parties move in to weaken Iran’s forces and pave the way for the US army to boot on the ground," one source stated.

The sources further noted that Washington and Tel Aviv have been urging the two dominant parties in Iraq's Kurdistan Region, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), to support the US-Israeli campaign against Iran. However, they ruled out the deployment of the Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga forces across the border.

One source also said that US President Donald Trump assured Turkey that the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) would not assume a dominant role in any prospective Kurdish entity in Iran.

Axios reported, citing three sources, that Trump held telephone discussions on Sunday with leading Iraqi Kurdish figures to address the conflict and potential next steps. According to the report, these calls occurred a day after the initiation of the bombing campaign and followed several months of behind-the-scenes lobbying by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

According to Axios, Trump spoke with Masoud Barzani, head of the KDP, and Bafel Talabani, president of the PUK. The discussions were characterised as "sensitive".

The agency reported that Israel has maintained close security, military, and intelligence ties with Kurdish actors in Syria, Iraq, and Iran for decades, although officials in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region have consistently denied formal links with Tel Aviv.

"It is the general view, and certainly Netanyahu's view, that the Kurds are going to come out of the woodwork and that they are going to rise up", one official was quoted as saying.

Moreover, CNN reported that the CIA is heavily involved in this operation. 

One person familiar with the discussions told CNN that the plan involved Kurdish armed forces attacking Iranian security forces to make it easier for wider unrest.

Another US official told CNN that the Kurds could help sow chaos in the region and stretch the Iranian regime's military resources thin, while other ideas centered on if Kurds could take and hold territory in the northern part of Iran as a buffer zone for Israel.

The escalation follows the killing of  Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and several senior military commanders in Israeli and US strikes on Saturday. In response, Iran launched dozens of drones and ballistic missiles targeting the US Consulate General in Erbil and Harir air base, which hosts US-led coalition forces. Pro-Iran militias in Iraq also carried out missile and drone attacks on Erbil.

Iran is also reported to have targeted the headquarters of Iranian Kurdish opposition groups located near Koya in Erbil province, as well as in the Surdash and Zirgwez areas of Sulaymaniyah.

United States President Donald Trump outlined Washington's objectives in its conflict with Iran during a phone call with Patriotic Union of Kurdistan leader Bafel Talabani, according to the party’s statement on Tuesday.

In a statement following a politburo meeting, the PUK reported that Talabani informed senior party officials that President Trump had "clarified the objectives of the United States in the current war" with Iran.

"During the meeting, President Bafel noted that President Trump provided an opportunity to better understand United States objectives and to explore joint support for building a strong partnership between the United States and Iraq," the statement added.

Following the reports and PUK's confirmation of the phone call, late on Tuesday evening, a former headquarters of the United Nations located over a hill in downtown Sulaimaniyah city was struck with a drone attack, causing a huge fire. The Sulaimaniyah-based Kurdistan Security Agency announced in a statement that the drone attack caused no casualties.

An official from an Iranian Kurdish opposition party told TNA, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the bombardments had no casualties and that the groups had not yet initiated armed operations inside Iran but were preparing for what he described as "the right moment".

In recent weeks, several Iranian Kurdish parties based in Iraq have formed a new alliance, the Coalition of Political Forces in Iranian Kurdistan, to challenge the Islamic Republic. Members include the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI), the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), and the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK).

Mohammad Nazif Qadiri, a member of the PDKI executive committee, recently told TNA  that Iranian Kurds will not use Iraqi territory to launch attacks against Iran and has expressed scepticism regarding exiled opposition figure Reza Pahlavi as a viable alternative to the current Iranian regime.

Amid these developments, several Iraqi political observers have cautioned against supporting US and Israeli military operations against Iran, arguing that such involvement could destabilise the Kurdistan Region and further entangle Iraq in regional conflict.