US and Kurds discuss potential Iran military operation, sources say

The Iranian Kurdish coalition of groups based on the ‌Iran-Iraq border has been training to mount such an attack

Residents watch as the flames and a black plume of smoke rises from a warehouse at the industrial area of Sharjah City in the United Arab Emirates following reports of Iranian strikes in Dubai. Picture: AP Photo/Altaf Qadri.

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 said.

A final decision has not yet been made on the ​operation and its possible timing, added the sources, who spoke 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 said.

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

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

Reuters could not 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 declined to comment. The White House and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Kurdish Regional Government ​did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Any operation from Iraq would probably require significant U.S. military and intelligence support.

The Pentagon says the two ‌US bases ⁠in Erbil have supported the international coalition fighting Islamic State militants.

Kurdish groups in Iraqi Kurdistan have a long history of working with the US but their shifting allegiances and ideologies have at times strained ties with Washington.

The United States worked with some of the Kurdish groups in Iraq both during the Iraq War and the battle against ISIS.

But it is unclear how successful the Iranian Kurdish groups would be in their fight inside Iran. The groups’ fighters have varying degrees of ​experience on the battlefield.

A source cited by ​CNN said the plan would be ⁠for Kurdish armed forces to take on Iranian security forces to make it easier for an uprising of unarmed Iranians in the country’s cities.

It is not clear exactly how such an operation in Iran by the Kurds will be received ​by other countries in the region.

An armed uprising by the Iranian Kurds could have serious consequences for Iran's stability.