The United States has begun reaching out to domestic opposition groups inside Iran as potential allies in an effort to spark an uprising against the government, The Washington Post reported Thursday.
According to people familiar with the effort, U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with leaders of the Kurdish minority in Iran and northern Iraq, offering “extensive U.S. air cover” and additional support for Iranian Kurdish groups opposed to the government to help them take control of parts of western Iran.
A senior official from one of the two main Kurdish political parties in Iraq said the U.S. request to Iraqi Kurdish leaders was to “open the way and not obstruct” Iranian Kurdish groups organizing in Iraq, while also providing logistical support. According to the official, during a call with party leader Bafel Talabani, Trump said: “The Kurds must choose a side in this battle — either with America and Israel or with Iran.”
A senior figure from the second major Kurdish party in Iraq, led by Masoud Barzani, confirmed the contacts but noted that “it’s not a question of who has more active armed militias capable of entering Iran, but who has broader support from inside Iran itself.”
In addition to speaking with Talabani, Trump also held talks this week with Mustafa Hijri, the leader of an Iranian Kurdish opposition party. The group is part of a coalition of six Iranian Kurdish parties opposed to the government that was announced last week in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.
In a statement released Wednesday, the coalition called on “all soldiers and personnel in Iran — especially in Kurdistan — to abandon their bases and withdraw their support from the regime’s armed and repressive forces.”