Kurdish Iranian dissident groups based in northern Iraq told The Associated Press they are preparing for a potential operation across the border into Iran, as U.S. officials ask Iraqi Kurdish leaders to provide support. One Kurdish official said some forces have already shifted toward the Iranian frontier in Sulaymaniyah province and are holding in place while the situation develops. The prospect of a new ground opening involving Iranian Kurdish opposition could add a fresh layer to a widening war and heighten concerns inside Iraqi Kurdistan about retaliation.
Khalil Nadiri, an official with the Kurdistan Freedom Party, or PAK, said Wednesday that some of their forces had moved to areas near the Iranian border in Sulaymaniyah province and were on standby. He said Kurdish opposition group leaders had been contacted by U.S. officials about a possible operation, though he did not provide further specifics about what that would involve.
Nadiri and other Kurdish officials described the groups as part of the fragmented Iranian opposition, with the Kurdish groups viewed as among the most organized segments. The AP reported that the Kurdish groups are believed to have thousands of trained fighters and some battle experience from the fight against the Islamic State group. Their entry into the war, officials said, could pose a challenge for authorities in Tehran and could also risk drawing Iraq deeper into the conflict.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was asked about reports that the Trump administration was considering arming Iranian Kurdish groups. Hegseth told reporters Wednesday, “None of our objectives are premised on the support or the arming of any particular force. So, what other entities may be doing, we’re aware of, but our objectives aren’t centered on that.”
The Kurdish discussions come amid an earlier pattern of conflict involving some of the same groups. Before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Saturday, triggering a new war in the Middle East, the PAK had claimed attacks on the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in retaliation for Tehran’s crackdown on protests. But an official with the group told the AP it had not sent forces from Iraq into Iran.
Another Kurdish Iranian group, Komala, told the AP it is ready to cross. An official with Komala said Wednesday that their forces are prepared to cross the border within a week to 10 days and were “waiting for the grounds to be suitable.” He spoke on condition of anonymity out of security concerns.
The AP reported that Iraqi Kurdish leaders were placed in a delicate position by the possibility of their territory being used for cross-border operations. Three Iraqi Kurdish officials told the AP that a call took place Sunday night between President Donald Trump and Masoud Barzani and Bafel Talabani—the heads of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, or KDP, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, or PUK—about the situation in Iran. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they said they were not authorized to comment publicly.
One of the officials said Trump asked the Iraqi Kurds to militarily support the Iranian Kurdish groups in operations in Iran and to open the border to allow those groups to move back and forth. When the AP asked about the call and reports that Trump sought military support for Iranian Kurdish groups, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “He did speak to Kurdish leaders with respect to our base that we have in northern Iraq,” and denied that Trump had agreed to a specific plan.
Iraqi Kurdish officials also said the region fears a harsh Iranian response if it becomes directly involved. The AP reported that Iraqi Kurdistan has already faced recent drone and missile attacks in recent days, including strikes targeting U.S. military bases and the U.S. Consulate in Irbil as well as Kurdish opposition group bases. It said that while many attacks have been intercepted, some civilian homes have been damaged and the region has faced electricity cuts after a key gas field halted operations due to security concerns.
In a statement, the PUK confirmed that Talabani spoke by phone with Trump and said Trump “provided clarification and vision regarding U.S. objectives in the war.” The PUK statement said the party “believes that the best solution is a return to the negotiating table.” Spokespeople for the Kurdish regional government in Iraq and for Barzani declined to comment, the AP reported. Axios first reported the call between Trump and the Kurdish leaders, and CNN said the administration was in discussions with Kurdish groups over providing military support.
The AP also described how armed Iranian Kurdish groups in northern Iraq have long been a friction point between Baghdad and Tehran. It said that in 2023 Iraq reached an agreement with Iran to disarm the groups and move them from bases near the border into camps designated by Baghdad. The AP reported that while the groups’ bases were shut down and movement within Iraq restricted, the groups did not give up their weapons.
Baghdad has continued to warn about border infiltration. The AP reported that Iraq’s National Security Adviser Qassim al-Araji said on X that Ali Bagheri, deputy secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, requested in a call between them that Iraq take measures to prevent opposition groups from infiltrating the border. Al-Araji said Iraq is committed to preventing any groups from infiltrating or crossing the Iranian border or carrying out terrorist acts from Iraqi territory and said security reinforcements were sent to the border.
Any move by Iraqi Kurds to support cross-border attacks would likely further inflame tensions with Iran-backed Iraqi militias, the AP reported, noting claims by those militias of missile and drone strikes on Irbil in recent days.
Reporting by Qassim Abdul-Zahra from Baghdad, with Abby Sewell in Beirut, and Konstantin Toropin and Michelle Price in Washington, for The Associated Press.