US in talks with Kurds on potential military operation in Iran — sources

Iranian Kurdish militias have consulted with the United States in recent days about whether, and how, to attack Iran’s security forces in the western part of the country, according to three sources with knowledge of the matter.

The Iranian Kurdish coalition of groups based on the Iran-Iraq border in the semiautonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan has been training to mount such an attack in hopes of weakening the country’s military, as the United States and Israel pound Iranian targets with bombs and missiles.

The goal would be to create room for Iranians opposed to the Islamic regime to rise up now that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other top officials have been killed since the US-Israeli attack began on Saturday, two of the sources say.

A final decision has not yet been made on the operation and its possible timing, add the sources, who speak on condition of anonymity to talk freely about sensitive military planning.

The groups have requested US military support and Iraqi leaders in Erbil and Baghdad have also been in touch with the Trump administration in recent days, they say.

The forces are in talks with the United States about CIA help to provide weapons, two of the sources say.

CNN was the first to report on the CIA’s involvement with the groups and the potential ground operation. Axios said this week that US President Donald Trump held a telephone call with two of Iraqi Kurdistan’s top leaders.

Reuters cannot independently confirm the extent of the CIA’s involvement in the planning of the operation, if it had facilitated the weapons or if any US forces planned to go into Iran with the Kurdish groups.

The CIA declines to comment. The White House and the Pentagon don’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Kurdish Regional Government doesn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.