CIA planning to arm Kurdish militants to cause unrest in Iran after US failure in war: Report

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) intends to arm Kurdish militants in a bid to trigger a civil war in Iran after the United States failed to achieve its goals in the unprovoked war against the Islamic Republic, a report says.

The administration of President Donald Trump has been in active talks with Iranian opposition groups and leaders of Kurdish militia factions in Iraq about providing them with military support, the CNN reported on Tuesday, citing multiple unnamed sources.

Meanwhile, the American president spoke with the head of the so-called Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI), Mustafa Hijri, the report added.

The US military commenced an unprovoked war of aggression against Iran on Saturday. Israel is also attacking Iran in close coordination with the US.

In retaliation, the naval and aerospace units of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has launched massive missile strikes against US military assets in regional countries and on targets in the Israeli-occupied territories since the weekend.

Iran’s escalating strikes have already prompted Washington to close its embassies and urge Americans to flee the region.

Kurdish armed groups have forces operating along the Iraq-Iran border, primarily in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq.

Iran has already warned that it will confront with firm response any move by the militant groups from the territory of neighboring countries.

The IRGC has been striking Kurdish militant groups. It said on Tuesday that it had targeted the militants with dozens of drones.

According to the report, citing two US officials and a third source familiar with the matter, Trump also called Iraqi Kurdish leaders on Sunday to discuss the US military aggression on Iran and how Washington and the militants could work together as the aggression continues.

Citing another US official, the report added that the Kurdish militants could help sow chaos in the region in an attempt to stretch Iran’s military resources thin.

Jen Gavito, a former senior State Department official specializing in West Asia under former President Joe Biden, said that she is concerned about whether the implications of arming the Kurdish militant groups - a historic US regional ally - have been fully considered.

“We are already facing a volatile security situation, on both sides of the border. This has the potential to undermine Iraqi sovereignty and essentially empower armed militias with no accountability and with little understanding of what it may set in motion,” she stressed.

According to another source, the Israeli military has been striking Iranian military and police outposts along the border with Iraq in recent days in an attempt to pave the way for the possible flow of armed Kurdish forces into northwest Iran.

An Israeli source told CNN that such strikes are likely to intensify in the coming days.

The CIA has a long, complex history of working with Iraqi Kurdish factions dating back decades as part of the US war in Iraq, the report said, adding that the agency currently has an outpost in Iraqi Kurdistan located near the border with Iran.

The US also has a consulate in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, and US and coalition troops are based there as part of the so-called anti-Daesh campaign.

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