Axios cited US and Israeli officials as saying that fighters from several Iranian Kurdish factions are preparing for a possible ground assault on the Iranian government in the country’s north west, following conflicting US reports about Iranian Kurdish militias carrying out a ground attack in that area.
The outlet said a potential ground operation could serve as a way to increase pressure on the Iranian government and encourage an internal rebellion that could spread to other parts of the country.
Six days before the outbreak of the US Israeli war on Iran, five Iraqi based Iranian Kurdish opposition groups announced the formation of an alliance called the Alliance of Political Forces in Iranian Kurdistan, with the stated aim of confronting the Iranian government.
According to the report, these factions have thousands of fighters along the Iraq Iran border and control strategic positions. In recent weeks, hundreds of their members were moved from camps inside Iraqi territory to the Iranian side of the border, as part of preparations for a possible attack on government forces, according to a source close to one of the factions.
Intelligence support and a plan to seize territory
Two US officials, an Israeli official, and a third source said the Iranian Kurdish militias are receiving support from Israel’s intelligence service, the Mossad, and the US Central Intelligence Agency, the CIA.
A US official said the goal of a ground incursion by these forces would be to try to seize control of a specific area within Iran’s Kurdish region, in a move that could challenge the government and inspire a wider uprising.
An Israeli official said the war began with a military phase led by US and Israeli forces, but added that later phases could include broader intelligence efforts by the Mossad and the CIA.
CNN was the first outlet to report on the CIA’s role in this plan.
An Israeli idea
Axios quoted a second US official as saying that the idea of supporting Iranian Kurdish factions and using them in a ground operation from Iraq into Iran initially came from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Mossad, before the CIA joined the effort at a later stage.
The official added that Israeli officials promised the Iranian Kurdish factions not only military support, but also political support for establishing an autonomous Kurdish region in Iran if the government collapses.
However, the official warned that these factions may not have sufficient military strength, saying there are concerns they could end up as “fuel for the war”, according to Axios.
In response, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said President Donald Trump had not approved any plan to support an attack by Iranian Kurdish factions against the Iranian government. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also said during a closed briefing to Congress: “We are not arming the Kurds, but no one knows what the Israelis might do.”
The Mossad and the CIA have not commented on Axios’s report, according to the outlet.
Contacts with Kurdish leaders and Iraqi reservations
In a related development, Trump spoke by phone this week with Iraqi Kurdish leaders Masoud Barzani and Bafel Talabani to discuss the war with Iran and its repercussions, according to the report.
A US official said the call was positive, but the two leaders expressed reservations about becoming involved in any ground invasion of Iran.
CNN also reported that Trump held a separate call with Mustafa Hijri, leader of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, to discuss sending forces across the border.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, during a call with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al Sudani, expressed Tehran’s concern about the possibility of Iranian Kurdish factions launching a ground attack from Iraqi territory.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said al Sudani confirmed that the Iraqi government “will not allow under any circumstances the use of Iraqi territory to threaten Iran”.
Conflicting accounts
This comes as Iran said it had targeted headquarters of Kurdish opposition groups in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Khatam al Anbiya Central Headquarters of the Iranian armed forces said it struck those sites with three missiles.
Fars News Agency reported that headquarters of what Tehran described as “separatist parties” in the city of Sulaymaniyah in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq caught fire as a result of the missile strike.
The attack followed US media reports about military movements by Iranian Kurdish factions. Axios previously quoted a US official as saying Iranian Kurdish militias had launched a ground assault in Iran’s north west, before both Tehran and Erbil categorically denied those claims.
In the same context, The New York Times reported that Iranian Kurdish forces are working to prepare armed units to enter Iran, which could open a new potential front in the ongoing war.
The newspaper added that the CIA supplied these forces with light weapons under a covert programme aimed at destabilising Iran, efforts that began before the current war erupted.
Observers believe that any potential US support for Kurdish factions to launch an attack or an internal rebellion inside Iran could represent a major escalation in the trajectory of the conflict. Such a move could prompt the Iranian military to respond, which could in turn allow US or Israeli aircraft to target those units as part of ongoing military operations.
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