Trump claims he ‘disagreed’ with arming Kurds against Iran: ‘I’ll remember that, Kurds’

US President Donald Trump says he “disagreed” with the decision to send weapons to Kurdish militants in Iraq in order to try and overthrow the Iranian regime toward the beginning of the war.

Numerous reports have described a joint US-Israeli plan to send arms to Kurdish groups and possibly provide cover for an armed insurgency against Tehran. Leaks to the media, lobbying by international actors — including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — and wariness among the Kurds themselves reportedly led Trump to eventually pull the plug on the idea.

Trump has several times claimed the US had sent weapons to the Kurds, who instead kept them, rather than using them to take on Iran. The accounts have not been independently confirmed, though.

“To be honest with you, the Kurds let us down. I disagreed with the decision. I was saying, ‘No, I don’t believe they’ll deliver,’” he tells Fox News.

The comments from Trump, who would have needed to sign off on any such operation, appear to be aimed at distancing him from the unsuccessful plan, with the US seemingly no longer pursuing regime change.

“I think they kept (the US weapons) for themselves. I think it’s a disgrace, but I’ll remember that, Kurds,” Trump adds.