Israel bombs western Iran to open path for CIA-backed Kurdish invasion: Report

The Cradle, March 7, 2026 —

Iraqi Kurdish leaders have reportedly chosen to ‘stay neutral’ in the war, citing ‘deep mistrust’ of Washington and Trump’s ever-changing objectives.

Israel is supporting Iranian Kurdish militants to capture Iranian territory amid the US-Israeli bombing campaign on the Islamic Republic, Reuters reported on 7 March, citing three sources familiar with Israel’s talks with the Kurdish groups.

Tel Aviv has been bombing parts of western Iran to support Iranian Kurdish separatist armed groups based in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region (IKR) in taking control of towns along the Iran-Iraq border.

The report reinforces claims that the US is planning to use Iranian Kurdish militants as a proxy force on the ground in its war against Tehran.

US President Donald Trump told Reuters on Friday it would be “wonderful” if they crossed the border.

Officials from the Iraqi central government and the IKR government have denied claims that Iranian Kurdish groups had already crossed the border to carry out attacks.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and the president of the IKR government, Nechirvan Barzani, spoke by phone on Friday to discuss the issue. The two agreed “that Iraqi territory must not be used as a launching point for attacks against neighboring countries,” the Prime Minister’s media office said.

CNN reported on 4 March that the CIA was working with Iranian Kurdish groups in Iraq to prepare a ground assault on Iran amid the US and Israeli bombing campaign.

However, Israel has been holding its own talks with Iranian Kurdish groups based in Iraqi Kurdistan for around a year, two Iranian Kurdish sources told Reuters. According to an Israeli source, the talks had been “long-term.”

Israel wants the Kurdish militants to seize Iranian territory along the border, including the towns of Oshnavieh and Piranshahr, among others, the sources stated.

Thousands of armed fighters were gathering on the Iraqi side of the border and preparing to launch an offensive within a week, the sources added.

The Israeli source stated that Israel did not anticipate the Kurdish militants, who were armed only with light weapons, to overthrow the Iranian government.

Rather, they could “erode” Iran’s control over its hinterlands and distract its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as the US-Israeli bombing campaign continues.

The coalition of Iranian Kurdish groups reportedly preparing to invade Iran includes the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI), and the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK).

In an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 on Friday, senior PDKI official Mohammad Saleh Qadri said that his group was ready and waiting to launch an offensive to seize territory.

“This is a historic moment for the destruction of the regime. History has given us the responsibility to act immediately in defense of our people, for the redemption of Iranian Kurdistan — we will begin to act as soon as possible,” Qadri stated.

“Our largest force is already in Iran,” he claimed.

Reuters’s sources said Kurds within Iran had already been providing targeting intelligence on the border areas to aid the US and Israeli bombing campaign.

“We are staying neutral because there is no clarity about US policy. Is this a full regime change or just a change of personnel?” according to one Kurdish official,  who added that regime change is impossible without US troops on the ground, and Washington does not seem prepared to send them.

Another senior official stressed that “the Kurds should not be the spearhead of this conflict.”

Israel has provided covert military and intelligence support to various Kurdish groups since the 1960s, viewing them as a tool to destabilize and divide regional states that could rival Israel, including Iran, Iraq, and Syria.

As journalist Kit Klarenberg has observed, such a plan may end in disaster for the Iran’s Kurds, with “invading Kurds being massacred in large numbers by Iran’s redoubtable one-million-strong army.”

However, “Israel is unconcerned about the consequences of this mission, both for Tehran herself and any Kurds doing the fighting and dying,” Klarenberg stated.

Furthermore, on Saturday, Axios reported that Iraqi Kurds have “decided to remain neutral” in the war, citing “deep mistrust” toward the US and fears Washington could abandon them again.

“We have trust issues from the past and do not want to get involved. Who will protect us if the Iranian regime survives?” one official told the US outlet.

“We are staying neutral because there is no clarity about US policy. Is this a full regime change or just a change of personnel?” a Kurdish government representative stated.