Washington and Erbil, Iraq —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. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been striking Kurdish groups and said on Tuesday that it targeted Kurdish forces with dozens of drones. 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. The US also leaned heavily on Kurdish forces in recent years as part of its campaign to counter Islamic State forces in Iraq in Syria. Facing that campaign, Kurdish forces evacuated and stopped guarding the ISIS prisons when US forces pulled out of the country.

Source: Egypt Independent March 04, 2026 14:11 UTC