President Donald Trump has reached out to Kurdish leaders in Iran and Iraq, offering U.S. air cover and logistical support to foment an uprising against the Iranian regime, according to several officials familiar with the discussions. The move comes as the Trump administration weighs the risks of sending U.S. troops into Iran and anticipates potential casualties from ongoing tensions with Tehran.

Strategic Outreach to Kurdish Groups

According to multiple people familiar with the effort, Trump has made calls to Kurdish minority leaders in Iran and neighboring Iraq, offering “extensive U.S. air cover” and other backing for anti-regime Iranian Kurds to take over portions of western Iran. The outreach has focused on the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq, where the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) are the dominant political forces.

A senior official from the PUK confirmed that Trump was clear in his call to PUK leader Bafel Talabani. “He told us the Kurds must choose a side in this battle — either with America and Israel or with Iran,” the official said. Similar statements were confirmed by a senior official from the KDP, who added that the focus was not on which group has more armed militias but on which has more support inside Iran.

Trump also spoke with Mustafa Hijri, head of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI), which is part of a coalition of six anti-regime Iranian Kurdish parties. In a statement on Wednesday, PDKI urged Iranian soldiers and personnel, particularly in the Kurdish region, to abandon their bases and withdraw support from the Iranian regime.

Risk of Escalation and Regional Tensions

The Iraqi Kurds, who have long provided refuge to their Iranian counterparts, now face a dilemma. If the U.S. and Israeli military efforts fail, the Kurds may risk destroying a tenuous peace they have maintained with the Iranian regime. The Iraqi Kurds, more organized and powerful than their Iranian counterparts, have control over their region and its economy, despite internal conflicts and tensions with the Shiite-dominated Iraqi government.

Representatives of several Kurdish parties denied rumors that a Kurdish invasion and uprising inside Iran had already begun. However, Iranian state media reported a “preemptive” strike on Thursday that targeted areas in Iraq’s Kurdish region, citing claims that U.S.-backed groups were planning to enter Iran and carry out attacks. These claims could not be immediately confirmed.

Trump has publicly called for anti-regime Iranians to rise up and take over their government. He has also suggested that elements of the existing regime could remain in place once its leadership is eliminated, a resolution similar to the one the U.S. imposed on Venezuela after capturing its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

U.S. Denies Weapons Supply to Kurdish Groups

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt denied reports that the CIA would provide weapons to Iranian Kurdish groups. “Trump did speak to Kurdish leaders with respect to our base that we have in northern Iraq. But … any report suggesting that the president has agreed to any such plan is false and should not be written,” she said.

The CIA declined to comment, and the White House did not respond to questions about contacts with other Iranian opposition groups, including the Baluchi minority or the exiled group Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK). A U.S. official warned that the extent of Kurdish cooperation with the U.S. remains uncertain, given Washington’s history of enlisting their aid in conflicts and then abandoning them.

“Could there be some opportunities to work together and our interests to be aligned, and do some things? Absolutely,” the U.S. official said. “But the Kurds on both sides of the Iraq-Iran border are likely to wait to see ‘which way the wind is blowing’ in the ongoing war.”

The Iranian Kurds, numbering about 10 million across five western provinces, are also among the largest minorities in Iraq, Syria, and parts of Turkey. They have often fought for self-determination, sometimes with U.S. support, but have also felt abandoned by Washington. Most recently, the U.S. withdrew support from the Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish group that had been a longstanding partner in countering the Islamic State.

Despite joining political forces in a coalition, the main Iranian Kurdish opposition groups have historically been at odds with each other and with other opponents of the Iranian regime. Only one group, the PJAK, is believed to be significantly armed, largely through ties with the PKK, which has been in conflict with the Turkish government for decades.

Experts warn that the limited number of Iranian Kurdish fighters and the lack of broader support in non-Kurdish areas of Iran may lead to ethnic discord. “The Iranian Kurds face a sort of entrapment,” said Gareth Stansfield, a professor of Middle East politics at the University of Exeter. “Just intimating that the Iranian Kurdish parties have received American support and are thinking about being the foot soldiers in Iran brings the attention of the IRGC onto western Kurdistan … and sets them up to be a massive target of the regime.”

A U.S. decision to arm the Iranian Kurdish groups may also strain relations with Turkey. After years of conflict with the Turkish government, the PKK agreed to disarm and is now in a peace process with Ankara. Israeli airstrikes have also targeted regime police and IRGC facilities in western Iran, while U.S. strikes have focused on missile launchers, airfields, and other targets in the south.

“The Israelis have been very systematically bombing military positions in Iranian Kurdistan … where they have done enormous damage to Iranian military capability,” said Henry Barkey, a Kurdish expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. “This is clearly a very deliberate strategy on the part of Israel.”