Is the CIA equipping Kurdish forces in northern Iran? That’s what our war reporter says about it.Image: AP/AP
Kurds in northern Iran are reportedly being armed and trained by Americans. Can that even be possible? CH Media war reporter Kurt Pelda classifies.
March 6, 2026, 10:26 amMarch 6, 2026, 10:26 am
Kurt Pelda, Tel Aviv, Nicole Caola / ch media
Israeli media, quoting American and Israeli officials, reported an invasion of western Iran by Kurdish fighters. There is talk of hundreds. Iranian Kurdish resistance groups deny this. The Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq also indirectly rejects such reports and is holding talks with Tehran. So it’s just not clear at the moment what’s really happening there.
Apparently the USA and Israel are trying to motivate Kurdish resistance groups to carry out attacks in western Iran. However, it is not possible to say reliably at the moment what the situation is on site, what is true and what is not. What we know and what we don’t:
What is currently happening in the Kurdish areas in northern Iran?
Kurdish fighters on the Iraqi border with Iran.Image: keystone
The Iranians fire their missiles and drones at everyone who is not on the boat with them. That means they are shooting at their Arab neighbors on the other side of the Persian Gulf and they are now also shooting into Iraq. This is not new. Tehran has repeatedly attacked American bases in northern Iraq and Kurdish settlement areas.
The Kurds live in Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria. They don’t have their own state. However, in northern Iraq they have had extensive autonomy for years; in fact, the region was at times almost a separate state. Iranian-Kurdish resistance groups have also set up shop there.
In recent days it has been said that the USA and Israel wanted to encourage these groups to carry out attacks in Iran. Iran wanted to forestall this.
Did the CIA arm the Kurdish groups?
There are the rumors. However, most of these organizations in northern Iraq are already armed. Many fought together with the USA and Iraqi Kurds against the “Islamic State”.
The crucial question is whether the Kurds want to go into armed conflict again. Several Iranian Kurdish groups have publicly denied this. What is clear, however, is that an information war is raging on social media. Numerous Kurdish accounts – often operated from Europe or the USA – claim things that are not known to be true.
Can a Kurdish uprising in Iran be successful?
The Iranian regime is coming under pressure.Image: keystone
Of course, armed action with support from the Israeli and American air forces could be promising. Their planes and drones can bomb away anything that would stand in the way of these potential attacks.
However: Kurds make up perhaps 12 percent of the population in Iran. Their settlement areas are in the far west of Iran. It is therefore completely illusory to imagine that a Kurdish army would now march from northern Iraq through the mountainous territory 500 kilometers to Tehran.
I’m still skeptical at the moment. The USA has repeatedly used Kurds for its own goals, for example in the fight against IS in Syria and Iraq. In 2017 they abandoned the Iraqi Kurds in the independence referendum. President Donald Trump did not support the vote – in the end it became a debacle for the Kurds. I can’t imagine that anyone in these Kurdish areas has forgotten this.
Why can’t all the different Kurdish groups join forces?
Kurdish soldiers in Syria.Image: keystone
There are approaches. Five armed Iranian-Kurdish organizations have joined forces to form a coalition, and a sixth recently joined. The will to reach agreement is evident.
Historically, however, the Kurds have been fragmented. There are left-wing forces like the PKK, as well as nationalist and communist groups. Different ideologies and visions of the future shape the scene. The fault lines are deep – and how the USA or Israel want to overcome them remains to be seen. (close) (aargauerzeitung.ch)