In calls this week to Kurdish minority leaders in Iran and neighboring Iraq, President Donald Trump offered “extensive U.S. aircover” and other backing for anti-regime Iranian Kurds to take over portions of western Iran, according to multiple people familiar with the effort. PDKI is part of a coalition of six anti-regime Iranian Kurdish parties that last week announced its formation in a declaration from Iraqi Kurdistan. Like their Iraqi brethren, the Iranian Kurds have in the past focused on regional autonomy rather than secession or regime change. Representatives of several parties in the Iranian Kurdish coalition denied rapidly spreading rumors late Wednesday that they had begun an invasion from Iraq. Iraqi Kurdish leaders last year signed an agreement with Tehran promising to safeguard their part of the Iran-Iraq border against outside incursions.

Source: Washington Post March 06, 2026 13:05 UTC