In the expanding Middle East conflict that began last weekend, reports suggest US President Donald Trump has taken a direct role in encouraging Kurdish forces to open a new front against Iran. According to reports, Trump encouraged Iranian Kurdish forces, who are in Iraq, to launch attacks against Iran. ' However, these reports of encouragement are directly contradicted by detailed accounts from Kurdish political sources.
Sky News obtained detailed insight into phone calls between US President Donald Trump and Iraqi Kurdish leaders at the start of the war last weekend. A high-ranking member of the Iraqi Kurdistan political elite said the phone call between Trump and Bafel Talabani happened last weekend when the war began and lasted around 10 minutes. In the call, Trump thanked Talabani and Kurdish forces for assisting the American military in northern Iraq and Syria over many years.
' The source said this was not covered in the phone call, and Talabani did not get that impression. Trump also had a brief phone call with Masoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). ' The source confirmed there were only two phone calls to Kurdish leaders in Iraqi Kurdistan.
The source was granted permission to talk to Sky News to counter claims originating in American media that suggested the Trump administration asked the Kurds to launch a ground offensive into Iran with CIA assistance. Based on these conversations, the source asserted that Donald Trump did not ask Kurdish armed groups based in Iraqi Kurdistan to launch a ground incursion into Iran when he spoke to political leaders on the phone. There has been considerable speculation about the calls and their content, leading to rumors and claims about the Kurds launching a ground operation into Iran.
The exact content and details of the phone calls beyond these summaries remain unclear. The contradiction extends to the question of US material support for such Kurdish operations. Several US media reported that the USA wants to support Kurdish militias with weapons to provoke an uprising in Iran.
Furthermore, Iranian Kurdish militias had consultations with the United States about whether and how they could attack Iranian security forces in the country, according to three sources with knowledge of the matter. This reporting aligns with the narrative of Trump's encouragement for offensive action. In stark contrast, the Kurdish source speaking to Sky News explicitly denied any such covert support structures.
The source stated there is no covert CIA operation currently under way to arm Kurdish groups in Iraqi Kurdistan. This denial was echoed by the White House, which denied reports of US plans to arm Kurdish militias. Whether Iranian Kurdish forces are planning or capable of launching ground incursions, and the nature of any US support, are key unknowns in the situation.
The potential for Kurdish action has drawn a severe threat from Iran. Tehran threatened attacks on 'all facilities' in neighboring Iraq if Kurdish fighters from northern Iraq entered Iran, according to a statement from the Iranian Defense Council via the Mehr news agency. ' It further warned that if Kurdish fighters were to possibly enter Iran, then 'all facilities in the region of Kurdish Iraq would be the target' of attacks.
Iran has already taken military action in the region. A camp of the Iranian opposition in Iraqi Kurdistan was targeted by an attack from Iranian drones, sources in the security forces said. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran announced that Iranian forces targeted the Ramat David air base and a radar position in Israel, the Al-Adiri camp in Kuwait where US forces are stationed, while also carrying out an unmanned aircraft attack on a base hosting American troops in Erbil, Iraq.
The conflict has rapidly expanded beyond the Iran-Iraq border. In the seven days the war has lasted, Iran has targeted Israel, the Gulf states, Cyprus, Turkey, and Azerbaijan, while the war expanded to the Indian Ocean, where an American submarine sank a ship of the Iranian Navy. Overnight, Iran launched an attack with unmanned aircraft against the American base Al Udeid in Qatar, the largest US base in the Middle East, Qatari officials said.
No casualties were reported from that strike. Israel announced that it began a wave of 'large-scale attacks against infrastructure in Tehran, as cities in the Gulf were bombed again by Iran. Iranian officials have framed the conflict in existential terms.
'This is an 'existential war' for Iran, which leaves us no choice but to respond from where the American attacks come from,' said Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh, who is participating in the Raisina Dialogues conference in Delhi. A spokesman for the Guards stated that new initiatives and weapons are to be developed soon to deal with the Israeli and American attack, without giving details. Amid this escalation, the Trump administration has sent mixed signals about its strategic goals.
Trump also stated that the United States should have a role in the decision about who will be the next leader of Iran, after the assassination of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei with airstrikes last week. He declared, 'We must choose this person together with Iran. ' This statement about influencing Iran's future leadership prompted a clarifying response from the US Defense Secretary.
US Defense Secretary Pete Heggseth stated that the US is not expanding its military targets in Iran, despite what Trump said about choosing the next leader of the country. Heggseth asserted, 'There is no expansion of our targets. ' The current status and scale of US military involvement or support for Kurdish groups in the region remains a significant point of uncertainty.
The conflicting narratives regarding Trump's communications with Kurdish leaders and potential US support highlight the opaque and volatile nature of this new phase in the regional war. The credibility of the anonymous source in Sky News versus the sources in other reports presenting a different account cannot be independently verified. The full extent of Iranian threats against Kurdish facilities in Iraq may become clearer if cross-border movements occur.
As the conflict enters its second week, the focus on Kurdish groups in Iraq adds a complex, ground-based dimension to a war already characterized by widespread airstrikes and naval engagements across the Middle East and beyond.