CIA reportedly arming Kurdish forces as ground troops to help foment ‘popular uprising in Iran’

The Islamic Republic of Iran is infamous for waging proxy wars and multi-front wars. Now it is faced with a formidable confrontation from opponents who are bombarding it from the sea and the air, and now may challenge it on the ground.

It remains to be seen whether the Islamic Republic of Iran’s staunch allies, such as Russia and China, or its proxies, such as the Houthis of Yemen, will engage. Prediction: likely not. All China cares about is its economy, Russia has merely issued a condemnation from afar, but is likely hoping that the conflict with Iran will tie up resources to aid Ukraine for an extended period. And the Houthis, according to Middle East Eye:

“The Houthis are still studying the situation and will make their decision based on the challenges facing Iran,” Fatehi bin Lazreq, editor of the Aden al-Ghad newspaper, told Middle East Eye. “If they determine that the threat to the Iranian regime is existential, they will decide to fully engage in the war.”

Should the Houthis engage, they, too, will face existential threat.

The war is expanding, as was to be expected, and already underway is an as yet unpredictable longterm shift in regional dynamics. According to the Associated Press, “The Kurdish groups are widely seen as the most well-organized segment of the fragmented Iranian opposition and are believed to have thousands of trained fighters. Their entry into the war could pose a significant challenge to the embattled authorities in Tehran and could also risk pulling Iraq further into the conflict.”

“CIA working to arm Kurdish forces, aims to spark uprising against Iran regime – report,” by Jacob Laznik, Jerusalem Post, March 4, 2026:

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 it targeted Kurdish forces with dozens of drones, CNN reported.

Trump spoke with the president of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI), Mustafa Hijri, according to a senior Iranian Kurdish official cited by CNN. 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….

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