'No friends but the mountains.' Kurds want Trump's help for Iran ground war

As the war against Iran enters its third week, the White House says ground troops are 'not part of the plan.' Seasoned Kurdish fighters disagree.

ON A KURDISH BASE NEAR THE BORDER WITH IRAN – Soon, there could be military boots on the ground crossing into the Islamic Republic of Iran from this terrain of fertile valleys, deep gorges and ancient Mesopotamian trade routes perched below the mountainous border dividing Iraq and Iran.

They may not be American ones.

The White House says ground operations are "not part of the plan right now" as the U.S.-Israel war against Iran enters its third week. President Donald Trump has reportedly alleged Iran is "about to surrender," though there is no indication of that from Tehran. According to Israeli and U.S. officials, the war is designed to hunt down key figures in Iran’s clerical regime while crippling Tehran’s long-range ballistic missile arsenal and nuclear program.

Still, as the war barrels forward on an uncertain trajectory, exiled Iranian Kurdish opposition officials and fighters − "Peshmerga,” a name that translates in English to "those who face death" − tell USA TODAY they have an invasion plan ready to activate. All they're waiting for, they say, is U.S. military air cover to launch the operation.

“When we cross the border, the United States should secure the skies for us and protect us from above,” said Rebaz Sharifi, a commander with the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), one of several Iranian Kurdish separatist groups based in northern Iraq, in an interview on March 11. "We do not need, nor do we expect, people to take to the streets," he said, referring to comments made by Trump on Feb. 28 when he urged Iranians as the bombing operation began to “take over your government. It will be yours to take.” Israel's leader has made similar comments.