The CIA and Israel are working to arm Kurdish forces in Iraq and Iran to take on the regime in Tehran, sparking fears of sectarian conflict and a widening regional war drawing in Syria and Turkey.
President Trump spoke by phone to Kurdish leaders in Iraq and Iran in the past few days to urge them to get behind the plan, which could entail an armed Kurdish offensive within days in the northwest of Iran.
The outreach comes only weeks after the Trump administration cut off support to the pro-western Kurdish forces in Syria who defeated the Islamic State’s caliphate on the ground, switching allegiance to the former Islamist government in Damascus.
