Trump Pressures Kurds to Back Iran Uprising

President Trump is leaning on the Kurds as he weighs whether to send US troops into Iran. Trump has phoned key Kurdish leaders in Iran and Iraq in recent days, offering "extensive US aircover" and other assistance if Iranian Kurdish opposition groups move to seize territory in western Iran, the Washington Post reports, citing US and Kurdish sources. Sources tell CNN that the CIA has been working to arm Kurdish groups in an effort that began months before the war.

• In a Sunday call, Trump told Patriotic Union of Kurdistan leader Bafel Talabani that the Kurds must pick a side—"either with America and Israel or with Iran," a senior PUK official said. Masoud Barzani of the Kurdish Democratic Party received a similar pitch, with US officials described as seeking Iraqi Kurds' permission and logistical help, not their direct participation.

• Trump also spoke with Mustafa Hijri, head of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, part of a new coalition of six Iranian Kurdish parties that has urged Iranian troops, especially in Kurdish regions, to stop backing Tehran's security forces, the Post reports.
• The outreach comes as Israel has been targeting police and Revolutionary Guard facilities in Iran's Kurdish areas, in what analysts describe as a deliberate effort to weaken Tehran's grip there while US strikes focus on military assets in other parts of the country.

• The gambit carries substantial risks. Iraqi Kurds have long hosted Iranian Kurdish groups on the condition they do not launch attacks into Iran and have pledged not to let their territory be used as a staging ground. Kurdish leaders, wary of past US reversals and fearing Iranian retaliation if any uprising falters, are signaling caution. Ankara could also balk if Washington moves to arm Iranian Kurdish factions linked to the PKK, which is in a fragile peace process with Turkey.
• "We are in a very delicate position," a PUK official tells the Post. If a Kurdish offensive fails, "we do not know what Iran's reaction against the Kurdistan region of Iraq would be," the official says. "At the same time, we cannot simply reject Trump's request—especially when he personally calls and asks for it."
• Asked Wednesday about reports of plans to arm Kurdish groups, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, "None of our objectives are premised on the support or the arming of any particular force. So, what other entities may be doing, we're aware of, but our objectives aren't centered on that." White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump spoke to Kurdish leaders "with respect to our base that we have in northern Iraq," but denied that any specific plan was agreed to, the AP reports.