Who are the Kurds and what role can they play in the war with Iran?

BRUSSELS (AP) — Thousands of hardened Kurds in northern Iraq are preparing for a possible cross-border military operation in Iran with American support, Kurdish officials told The Associated Press.

He watches: Residents are fleeing the Iranian capital as the agency says the death toll in Tehran exceeds 1,000 people

The three officials said that US President Donald Trump and the heads of the two main Kurdish parties in Iraq discussed the situation on Sunday. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

Adding armed Kurds now, as Israel and the United States continue to strike Iran, would pose a major challenge to Iranian defenses but also risks dragging Iraq — where some Iranian Kurdish groups have bases — deeper into the conflict.

Here’s a look at the Kurds and their relationships in the Middle East:

Who are the Kurds?

Kurds are among the largest stateless ethnic groups in the world, with nearly 30 million living as minorities in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. They speak their own language, with several dialects, and most of them are Sunni Muslims.

Although the Kurds have never had a state of their own, they rule a semi-autonomous region in northern Iraq, and for years have de facto ruled much of northeastern Syria. Many of them have launched rebellion campaigns seeking to create their own state called Kurdistan.

Read more: The Syrian army declares a ceasefire with Kurdish-led forces for another 15 days

Iran’s 9 million Kurds live mainly in an area of ​​land along the country’s western borders with Iraq and Turkey. They have a long history of grievances and rebellions against both the current Islamic Republic and the monarchy that preceded it.

Before the war, Amnesty International said that Kurds faced “systematic discrimination” in Iran, and that “security forces have killed or wounded numerous unarmed (adult) Kurdish cross-border couriers in the past with impunity.”

What is the Kurdish opposition in Iran?

A number of Kurdish opposition groups have taken up arms against the Iranian authorities over the years.

Some of them established bases in neighboring Iraq, which was a point of friction between Tehran and the central Iraqi government in Baghdad until 2023, when they reached an agreement to disarm Iranian Kurdish groups.

In the run-up to the current war, five Iranian Kurdish groups formed an alliance dedicated to overthrowing the Islamic Republic and establishing the Kurdish people’s right to self-determination. On Thursday, the sixth group joined.

He watches: John Kirby talks about concerns about Iran’s post-war future

“For the first time, all major Kurdish parties are coming together in a new coalition, which is a historic step towards shaping a new future for the Kurds and a democratic Iran,” said Abdullah Mohtadi, Secretary General of the Komala Party in Iranian Kurdistan.

But joining with other Iranian opposition groups to overthrow the authorities in Tehran may be difficult.

What is the history of the Kurds with the United States?

Kurds are rarely on the winning side in their interactions with US presidents.

In 1975, President Gerald Ford failed to protect the Kurds from defeat by Iraqi forces.

In 1988, President Ronald Reagan did prevent Iraqi forces from using chemical weapons against the Kurds.

In 1990, President George Bush encouraged the Kurds to revolt against Saddam Hussein after his invasion of Kuwait, but then stood aside while Iraqi forces brutally crushed the rebellion.

Read more: Trump says he wants to participate in choosing the next Iranian leader

In January, Trump allowed Syrian forces to seize Kurdish territory won during the Syrian civil war and in the bloody battles against ISIS.

Where does Türkiye stand?

Türkiye, a key member of NATO and a potential host of war refugees, is unlikely to accept the transfer of Western weapons to Kurdish fighters even if their targets are in Iran.

Türkiye has been waging a brutal military campaign since 1984 against the armed Kurdish rebellion, which has claimed tens of thousands of lives and spread to neighboring Iraq and Syria.

On Thursday, Türkiye expressed its opposition to the possible involvement of Iranian Kurdish dissident groups in the ongoing conflict in Iran, warning of increasing instability in the region.

Türkiye considers the main Kurdish splinter group, the Kurdistan Free Life Party, a terrorist group with links to separatists fighting Türkiye. The Turkish Ministry of Defense said on Thursday that the activities of the Kurdistan Free Life Party “negatively affect not only Iran’s security, but also the comprehensive peace and stability in the region.”

What is the situation in Iraq?

Violence has already erupted across the vast Kurdish territory across the border between Iran and Iraq.

As Israel and the United States struck targets across Iran, Iranian forces and their allies in Iraq launched missiles and drones targeting US military bases and the US consulate in Erbil as well as the bases of Iranian Kurdish groups.

Read more: The war expands in the Middle East, as Israeli and American planes bomb Iran and Tehran, and its agents respond

Khalil Naderi, an official in the Kurdistan Freedom Party based in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq, said on Wednesday that some of his forces have moved to areas close to the Iranian border in Sulaymaniyah Governorate and are in a state of readiness.

In January, the group said it carried out raids inside Iran during a widespread crackdown on protests. State media then described them as “terrorists”, without providing any evidence to support this claim, a crime punishable by death in Iran.

Meanwhile, officials in the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq and Iraqi Kurdish political parties said they did not want to launch attacks against Iran from their territory, for fear of a harsh response.

Peshawa Hawramani, spokesman for the Kurdistan Regional Government, said in a statement, “The allegations that we are part of a plan to arm and send Kurdish opposition parties to Iranian territory are completely unfounded,” and that the Iraqi Kurdish parties do not want to “expand the scope of war and tensions in the region.”

Associated Press writers Susan Fraser in Istanbul, Qasim Abdul Zahra in Baghdad, and Stella Martini and Rashid Yahya in Erbil, Iraq, contributed to this report.