CIA working to arm Kurdish forces to spark uprising in Iran, sources say

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNN Politics

Updated Mar 3, 2026, 5:01 PM ET
PUBLISHED Mar 3, 2026, 4:52 PM ET


The CIA is working to arm Kurdish forces with the aim of fomenting a popular uprising in Iran, multiple people familiar with the plan told CNN. The Trump administration has been in active discussions with Iranian opposition groups and Kurdish leaders in Iraq about providing them with military support, the sources said.

Iranian Kurdish armed groups have thousands of forces operating along the Iraq-Iran border, primarily in Iraq’s Kurdistan region. Several of the groups have released public statements since the beginning of the war hinting at imminent action and urging Iranian military forces to defect. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been striking Kurdish groups and said on Tuesday that it targeted Kurdish forces with dozens of drones.

Also on Tuesday, President Donald Trump spoke with the president of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI), Mustafa Hijri, according to a senior Iranian Kurdish official. KDPI was one of the groups targeted by the IRGC.

Iranian Kurdish opposition forces are expected to take part in a ground operation in Western Iran, in the coming days, the senior Iranian Kurdish official told CNN. “We believe we have a big chance now,” the source said, explaining the timing of the operation. The source added the militias expects US and Israeli support.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/03/politics/cia-arming-kurds-iran

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OMFG this is pouring gasoline on the fire.

Almost a year ago, the PKK in Turkey after 40 years of fighting, finally came to an agreement to disarm when Turkey offered some concessions - Conflict Between Turkey and Armed Kurdish Groups

We basically abandoned Syria after the Kurds there helped to run Assad off. Now we're going to rile up yet another faction.

[Pachamama]

1. Why after all that has been done to the Kurds and broken promises by US - would the Kurds

…trust the US?

Seriously…

[AZJonnie]

4. Exactly my first thought. IQ45 completely hung them out to dry vs. Turkey and probably burned that bridge

They might still fight Iran but if so seems likely to stem from their own motives, not some desire to appease Mango Mussolini, or the USA generally.

[eppur_se_muova]

2. Trmp abandoned the Kurds on the battlefield last time. I doubt they'll be eager allies after that. nt

[bluestarone]

3. Jeepers, sounds like just what they did with the Jan 6th insurrectionists.

That's their MO i guess!!!

[Gore1FL]

5. I'm sure this will thrill Turkey. NT

[erronis]

6. Once again, arm another group to fight proxy wars and sow hatred among groups.

That's the CIA way. And it's a failure - unless the purpose is to get other populations to kill each other.

(Un?)Fortunately is spreads and someone's left to clean up. (Not the CIA!)

[Bayard]

7. Sounds like a grand idea!

Just keep stirring that pot. Moron.

Our Dem president is going to have another mess to clean up. Rethugs always leave things that way, and then try to blame it on the Dems.

[Bluestocking]

8. Kurds know who they are dealing with

When they are betrayed I will have no sympathy.

[greatauntoftriplets]

9. What a fustercluck!

[bmichaelh]

10. Some Kurds want their own country

Some Kurds want their own country; if that were to happen, it would impact Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey.

There is a law of unintended consequences this administration has never heard.

For example, if Mossadegh was left to govern in 1950s, perhaps Iran would be a secular and democratic country today.

Does not matter what Trump puts his name on; he will not escape the judgment of history.

[BidenRocks]

11. Didn't Bush the first screw them over in the 80s?

I wouldn't trust us!

[Spazito]

18. Yep, GW betrayed the Iraqi Kurds...

in the first Gulf War in 1991.

[usonian]

12. What about Alberta?

Inquiring minds want to know.

[Bev54]

13. Isn't there a law against the CIA being involved

In war and regime change? Or is it just assasinations?

[FadedMullet]

14. These are the same Kurds that we abandoned after the Iraqi war, right? In my opinion the biggest betrayal of an......

......erstwhile "ally" since the helicopters airlifted American off the roof of the American embassy in Saigon. I truly hope that they do not trust us an inch and instead take the arms, build a secure enclave and declare independence.

[BidenRocks]

17. That wasn't the embassy.

It was a nearby hotel. April 29, 1975.
I was a Marine and 4/30 is my birthday.
That left a memory.

[moniss]

15. This sort of thing has been the M.O. of the West for

over 100 years in the Middle East. It will come as no surprise that the overtures to this group have been ongoing for at least a year or more. Making the overtures, making the promises, developing the plans etc. didn't just happen. Overthrow this one, overthrow that one and then overthrow the ones you propped up to do the first and second overthrows.

It's always been about oil and having puppets. The Western powers carving people and oil up for themselves.

[BumRushDaShow]

16. The irony of today in this era, is that the U.S. is the LARGEST oil producer IN THE WORLD

https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=66844

[moniss]

19. Yes and just like with Venezuela it

isn't so much the fascists need the oil it's more a matter of reworking existing production contracts to cut themselves in for propped up "services companies etc." and to get the production contracts reworked so the subject country gets a lower royalty percentage and the oil companies a higher percentage. The Western nations have done this over and over by propping up this militia or that to do an overthrow.

Sadly along with the oil "business" comes a lot of dead bodies, including children, they push aside as an "unfortunate" circumstance. Obviously also is that every move that the GQP and Crumb the 1st have made is to dismantle conservation efforts such as mpg requirements and green energy which of course means increased consumption/sales/revenue for the oil companies.

But climate change continues to accelerate and the negative effects are mounting rapidly and there will be no place to run and hide.

[thought crime]

20. The CIA has a terrible history with IRAN

If they want to unify Iranians against the US, even more, just bring in the CIA. That will do it.

[Celerity]

21. Yes, especially Operation Ajax, the 1953 CIA coup of the legitimately elected PM, Mohammad Mosaddegh and strengthening

the Shah Pahlavi and the rise of his SAVAK terror thugs.



1953 coup in Iran

https://www.britannica.com/event/1953-coup-in-Iran