CIA-backed Kurdish forces are ‘preparing for a potential ground offensive against Iran‘s regime’ in the country’s northwest, according to US and Israeli officials.
The effort is being discussed as part of a wider strategy to intensify pressure on Tehran during ongoing US and Israeli strikes, with some reports saying fighters have already crossed the border.
Officials believe a coordinated Kurdish offensive could encourage internal unrest inside Iran and potentially trigger a wider rebellion, making it easier for Iranians to take to the streets without getting massacred by the regime, according to CNN.
About a week before the start of the war, five Iranian Kurdish dissident groups based in Iraq announced the formation of the Coalition of Political Forces of Iranian Kurdistan to fight the regime.
The coalition consists of The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI), Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), the Khabat Organization, and Komala -Toilers of Kurdistan.
These factions have thousands of fighters positioned along the Iran-Iraq border controlling tactical areas in the region, Axios reports.
Hundreds of Kurdish fighters were recently moved from camps on the Iraqi side of the border into Iran as preparations for a potential attack against Iranian forces.
These Kurdish groups are widely seen as the most well-organized faction of the fragmented Iranian opposition and are believed to have thousands of battle-hardened fighters.
Kurdish Peshmerga fighters train on January 18, 2026 near Erbil, Iraq
US and Israeli officials have said the Iranian Kurdish militias are backed by the CIA and Israel’s Mossad intelligence service, CNN reports.
This support reportedly began several months before the war, according to a senior Kurdistan Regional Government official.
One Israeli official said: ‘The war started with a kinetic phase by the US and Israeli militaries, but as the war continues there will be other efforts by the Mossad and the CIA’.
A US official said the Kurdish groups could help create chaos and stretch Iran’s military resources by forcing the regime to deploy troops to multiple fronts.
Other officials believe Kurdish forces could even capture territory in northern Iran, establishing a buffer zone near Israel.
But there are worries that Kurdish factions may not have sufficient military strength, with one Israeli official saying: ‘Kurdish Iranian factions don’t have enough military power and they could end up as cannon fodder.’
However, if the regime collapses, Israel is said to have promised the Kurdish groups military backing and political support.
The Trump administration has also been in contact with Kurdish leaders as discussions over the plan intensified.
Trump spoke with Kurdish leaders Masoud Barzani and Bafel Talabani on Sunday, to discuss the war with Iran and possible next steps, according to Axios.
CNN also reported that Trump held a separate conversation with Mustafa Hijri, the leader of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan.
Attempts to arm Iranian Kurdish groups would likely require cooperation from Iraqi Kurdish authorities so weapons could pass through Iraqi Kurdistan.
A Kurdistan Regional Government official said: ‘[It’s] very dangerous, but what can we do? We are very frightened.’
Meanwhile, Iran has already responded to the possibility of Kurdish involvement in the conflict, with the IRGC carrying out drone strikes against Kurdish groups.
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi also raised concerns with Iraq about the possibility of Kurdish fighters crossing into Iran.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani responded by assuring Iran that ‘the Iraqi government will under no circumstances allow any threat to be directed at Iran from Iraqi territory.’
Iraq’s national security adviser Qasim al-Araji added that the country would not allow armed groups ‘to infiltrate or cross the Iranian border to carry out terrorist acts from Iraqi territory.’
Meanwhile, Washington has downplayed suggestions that the US is directly backing such an operation.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Trump has not approved any plan to support a Kurdish militia offensive against Iran.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also denied that US objectives rely on arming Kurdish groups.
‘None of our objectives are premised on the support of 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.’
Speaking to congress at a briefing on Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio further shut down reports, saying: ‘We’re not arming the Kurds. But you never know with the Israelis.’
Iranian Kurdish fighters take part in a training session at a base on the outskirts of Erbil, Iraq
The US, however has a long history of working with Kurdish forces in both Iraq and Syria, including under Trump’s first administration.
The Kurds are an ethnic group spread across Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran. Based in the mountainous Kurdistan province, Iranian Kurdish fighters have a long history of armed resistance against the Islamic Republic and the monarchy that preceded it.
During the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Kurds were marginalized and repressed and sometimes rebelled.
After Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, the new theocracy also battled Kurdish insurgents.
Iranian forces destroyed Kurdish towns and villages in fighting that killed thousands over several months.
Speaking on the Daily Mail’s Deep Dive Podcast, political reporter Elina Shirazi said:
‘I have been told the Kurds would be used as a group of armed volunteers – soldiers, to assist the Iranian people in freeing themselves’, Shirazi told the podcast.
‘They could seize local government buildings, police stations, IRGC bases. They could create liberation zones and put further pressure on Iran’s military forces.
‘If they fight the Iranians along the border, they could divert the military from the capital, which would be significant.’
However, journalist David Patrikarakos warned that arming Kurdish rebels as a substitute for US troops on the ground in Iran could spark a ‘catastrophic’ civil war that destabilises the nation for years to come.
‘Iran fracturing along ethnic lines is the last thing anybody wants’, he said. ‘This is the way to civil war, which might grind on and on.’
‘If Trump is going to arm them, my guess would be that it would come with some pretty stiff guarantees. Such as, you can fight the regime but it would have to be for a united Iran.’
‘I suspect the Kurds are probably not strong enough to turn around and say, get lost.’
‘But if the United States and Israel are successful in ending the regime and getting something vaguely sane in Iran, that is a huge win. America is undoubtedly strengthened.’
