Donald Trump spoke by phone on Sunday with Kurdish leaders in Iraq about the U.S.–Israeli war with Iran and possible further developments, three sources familiar with the calls confirmed to the American outlet Axios.
Trump contacted the leaders of the two main Kurdish factions in Iraq — Masoud Barzani and Bafel Talabani — a day after the bombing began on Saturday, Axios reports, as relayed by Index.hr.
The Kurds have thousands of fighters along the Iraqi-Iranian border and control strategic areas that could become crucial in the further course of the war. In addition, Iraqi Kurds maintain close ties with the Kurdish minority in Iran.
The phone calls followed months of lobbying by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had urged Trump to launch an attack and pursue regime change in Iran. Israel has for decades maintained close security, military, and intelligence ties with Kurds in Syria, Iraq, and Iran.
One official said: “The prevailing view — and certainly Netanyahu’s position — is that the Kurds will ‘come out of the shadows’… that they will rise up.” Netanyahu first presented the idea of involving the Kurds during a meeting with Trump at the White House.
“When he first came and sat with Trump for hours, it seemed as if Netanyahu had everything worked out,” one official said. “He had a successor ready. He knew everything about the Kurds: the two groups, where they are located. He even knew how many people would rise up in rebellion,” he added.
When directly asked about Trump’s calls with the Kurds, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to comment on the details. “President Trump has been in contact with numerous allies and partners in the region in recent days,” she told Axios.
On Sunday, the Kurdistan Freedom Party, an opposition group of Iranian Kurds based in Iraqi Kurdistan, accused Iran of carrying out a retaliatory campaign with missile strikes and drones. Six days before the outbreak of war, five dissident Kurdish groups operating from Iraq announced the formation of the Coalition of Political Forces of Iranian Kurdistan to fight against Iran.
The Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Iraq and one of the largest in Iran, often described as the largest nation in the world without its own state. Their homeland stretches across southeastern Turkey, northern Syria, northern Iraq, and northwestern Iran. After the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, the Kurds established an autonomous region in the north of the country. Their fighters, known as “Peshmerga” — meaning “those who face death” — have decades of combat experience gained in conflicts in Iraq and against Islamic State in Syria.
The involvement of experienced ground fighters would add a crucial dimension to the U.S.–Israeli air campaign. The United States used a similar strategy in the war in Afghanistan in 2001, when strong air support enabled ethnic minority fighters on the ground to advance and help topple the Taliban regime.
A potential problem in these plans could be the Kurds’ hostile relationship with Turkey, which is a U.S. ally and a NATO member. “The president speaks with everyone. He speaks with Kurdish leaders. He also spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan,” one source said. The announcement last week of the formation of the Coalition of Political Forces of Iranian Kurdistan also sparked tensions with an exile group led by former Iranian crown prince Reza Pahlavi.
Although U.S. officials believe that Netanyahu may have overestimated the number of Kurds willing to fight against Iran, they emphasize that the number “is not negligible.” “What their role in the war or in post-war Iran would be — that is a question beyond my authority,” one official concluded.
Photo: Screenshot_28-2-2026_12615_www.index_.hr_.jpeg
