Kurdish Dissident Groups Say They Are Preparing To Join The Fight Against Iran With U.S. Support
HuffPost
Their entry into the war could pose a significant challenge to the embattled authorities in Tehran and could also risk pulling Iraq further into the conflict.
IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — Kurdish Iranian dissident groups based in northern Iraq are preparing for a potential cross-border military operation in Iran, and the U.S. has asked Iraqi Kurds to support them, Kurdish officials told The Associated Press.
The Kurdish groups are widely seen as the most well-organized segment of the fragmented Iranian opposition and are believed to have thousands of trained fighters. Their entry into the war could pose a significant challenge to the embattled authorities in Tehran and could also risk pulling Iraq further into the conflict.
Khalil Nadiri, an official with the Kurdistan Freedom Party, or PAK, based in northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, said Wednesday that some of their forces had moved to areas near the Iranian border in Sulaymaniyah province and were on standby.
He said Kurdish opposition group leaders had been contacted by U.S. officials regarding a potential operation, without giving more details.
Asked about reports that the Trump administration was considering arming Iranian Kurdish groups, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters Wednesday: “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.”
The military campaign has killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, sunk at least 10 Iranian warships and struck more than 1,000 targets.
As the American and Israeli airstrikes continued, a top Iranian security official vowed defiantly that “we will not negotiate with the United States.”
Blasts in Tehran sent a huge plume of smoke into the sky in an area of government buildings.
Four people were injured at the airport, the emirate's media office said early on Sunday.