Kurdish dissident groups say they are preparing to join the fight against Iran with US support

IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — Kurdish Iranian dissident groups based successful bluish Iraq are preparing for a imaginable cross-border subject cognition successful Iran, and the U.S. has asked Iraqi Kurds to enactment them, Kurdish officials told The Associated Press.

The Kurdish groups are wide seen arsenic the astir well-organized conception of the fragmented Iranian absorption and are believed to person thousands of trained fighters. Their introduction into the warfare could airs a important situation to the embattled authorities successful Tehran and could besides hazard pulling Iraq further into the conflict.

Khalil Nadiri an authoritative with the Kurdistan Freedom Party, oregon PAK, based successful bluish Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish portion said Wednesday that immoderate of their forces had moved to areas adjacent the Iranian borderline successful Sulaymaniyah state and were waiting connected standby.

He said Kurdish absorption radical leaders had been contacted by U.S. officials regarding a imaginable operation, without giving much details.

Asked astir reports that the Trump medication was considering arming Iranian Kurdish groups, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters Wednesday: “None of our objectives are premised connected the enactment oregon the arming of immoderate peculiar force. So, what different entities whitethorn beryllium doing, we’re alert of, but our objectives aren’t centered connected that.”

Before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran connected Saturday, triggering a caller warfare successful the Middle East, the PAK had claimed attacks connected the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard successful retaliation for Tehran’s convulsive crackdown connected protests. But an authoritative with the radical said it had not sent forces from Iraq into Iran.

If the Iranian and Iraqi Kurdish groups were to articulation the war, it would beryllium the archetypal introduction of a important crushed unit into the battle. The Kurdish groups person conflict acquisition from the combat against the Islamic State group.

An authoritative with Komala, different of the Kurdish Iranian groups, said Wednesday that their forces are acceptable to transverse the borderline wrong a week to 10 days and were “waiting for the grounds to beryllium suitable.” He spoke connected information of anonymity retired of information concerns.

Kurds successful Iran person a agelong past of grievances and uprisings against some the existent Islamic Republic and the monarchy that preceded it. During the regularisation of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi Kurds were marginalized and repressed and sometimes rebelled.

After Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, the caller theocracy besides battled Kurdish insurgents. Iranian forces destroyed Kurdish towns and villages successful warring that killed thousands implicit respective months.

While they stock a tendency to spot the existent authorities ousted, the Kurdish groups person besides butted heads with different absorption groups — notably the faction led by the erstwhile shah's son, Reza Pahlavi, who has accused the Kurds of being separatists aiming to carve up Iran.

Iraqi Kurds hesitant to articulation the fray

The imaginable cognition has enactment leaders of the Iraqi Kurdish portion successful a delicate position.

Three Iraqi Kurdish officials told the AP that a telephone took spot Sunday nighttime betwixt U.S. President Donald Trump and Masoud Barzani and Bafel Talabani — the heads of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, oregon KDP, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, oregon PUK, the 2 main Kurdish parties successful Iraq — to sermon the concern successful Iran.

They spoke connected information of anonymity due to the fact that they were not authorized to remark publicly.

One of the officials said Trump had asked the Iraqi Kurds to militarily enactment the Iranian Kurdish groups successful operations successful Iran and to unfastened the borderline to let the Iranian Kurdish groups to determination freely backmost and forth.

When asked astir the telephone and reports that Trump has sought subject enactment for Iranian Kurdish groups, White House property caput Karoline Leavitt said: “He did talk to Kurdish leaders with respect to our basal that we person successful bluish Iraq” but denied that Trump had agreed to a circumstantial plan.

The Iraqi Kurdish authoritative said the Iraqi Kurds were acrophobic that getting straight progressive successful the struggle would gully a harsh Iranian response. Already the Kurdish portion has seen a drawstring of drone and rocket attacks by Iran and allied Iraqi militias successful caller days, targeting U.S. subject bases and the U.S. Consulate successful Irbil arsenic good arsenic the Kurdish groups' bases.

While astir of the attacks person been intercepted, civilian homes person been damaged, and the portion is suffering from energy cuts aft a cardinal state tract halted operations owed to information concerns.

In a statement, the PUK confirmed that Talabani had spoken by telephone with Trump, who “provided clarification and imaginativeness regarding U.S. objectives successful the war.” The connection said the PUK “believes that the champion solution is simply a instrumentality to the negotiating table.”

Spokespeople for the Kurdish determination authorities successful Iraq and for Barzani declined to comment.

The quality tract Axios archetypal reported the telephone betwixt Trump and the Kurdish leaders, and CNN reported that the Trump medication was successful discussions with Kurdish groups implicit providing subject support.

Iraq moves to seal the border

The beingness of equipped Iranian Kurdish groups successful bluish Iraq has been a constituent of friction betwixt the cardinal Iraqi authorities successful Baghdad and Tehran.

Iraq successful 2023 reached an statement with Iran to disarm the groups and determination them from their bases adjacent the borderline areas with Iran — wherever they perchance posed an equipped situation to Tehran — into camps designated by Baghdad.

Their subject bases were unopen down and their question wrong Iraq restricted, but the groups did not springiness up their weapons.

Iraq’s National Security Adviser Qassim al-Araji said successful a station connected X that Ali Bagheri, lawman caput of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, had requested successful a telephone betwixt them “that Iraq instrumentality the indispensable measures to forestall immoderate absorption groups from infiltrating the borderline betwixt the 2 countries.”

Al-Araji said Iraq is committed to “preventing immoderate groups from infiltrating oregon crossing the Iranian borderline oregon carrying retired violent acts from Iraqi territory” and noted that information reinforcements had been sent to the border.

In summation to retaliation by Iran, immoderate question by Iraqi Kurds to articulation a cross-border onslaught would apt inflame tensions with Iran-backed Iraqi militias, which person already claimed rocket and drone strikes connected Irbil successful caller days.

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Abdul-Zahra reported from Baghdad. Abby Sewell successful Beirut and Konstantin Toropin and Michelle Price successful Washington contributed.

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