Yellow on anti-Iranian Kurdish militias: the United States between alleged air cover, bombings, and denials

The mystery surrounding the use of anti-Iranian Kurdish militias by the United States deepens: while American media report that Donald Trump is offering "extensive air cover" and other assistance to Iranian Kurdish groups to advance in western Iran, bombings, missile attacks, and militia movements are multiplying between Iran and the Iraqi Kurdistan, in a context made even more opaque by denials and contradictory signals.

In this context, the actual extent of American support for Iranian Kurdish groups remains uncertain: the Pentagon has stated that U.S. military objectives do not depend on the support of local forces, while the White House has so far denied that Trump has approved plans to arm Kurdish militias. Meanwhile, Kurdo-Iraqi media report that six Iranian armed movements have recently formed a political-military coalition to coordinate operations against Tehran.

Among the main groups are the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (Kdpi), the Party for a Free Kurdistan (Pak), and the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (Pjak), the latter linked to the Workers' Party of Kurdistan (Pkk). Tehran, for its part, has announced military operations against Iranian and Iraqi Kurdish groups present in the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, identified as separatist agents along the border.

News also comes from Iran about the launch of missiles against bases of anti-regime Kurdish movements in northern Iraq. In recent days, about thirty drones were used against Kurdish positions in the mountainous areas between the two countries. Local Kurdish sources in Iraq report a missile attack on the city of Sulaimaniye, in the Kurdish autonomous region closest to the border.

The presence of anti-Iranian Kurdish militias in the area has been documented for years. Their training activities with Israeli and American support aimed at countering Tehran have long been known to observers in the region. According to sources on the ground, these organizations have a total of several thousand fighters distributed among camps and positions in areas partially outside the control of the Kurdish-Iraqi authorities. In recent hours, U.S. and Israeli air forces have intensified bombardments in the Kurdish areas of western Iran, particularly in the regions of Piranshahr and Baneh, locations situated along the border with Iraqi Kurdistan. Meanwhile, the Iraqi Kurdish leadership is trying to maintain a cautious position: the president of the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, Nechirvan Barzani, assured in a conversation with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi that the Kurdish territory “will not be part of direct conflicts against Iran”.

The autonomous Kurdish region remains under strong pressure. The United States maintains military bases in the territory, including the one in Erbil, which was recently targeted by drones attributed to forces linked to Tehran. Turkey is also closely monitoring developments, especially due to the presence among the involved groups of Pjak, an organization linked to the Pkk that Ankara considers a terrorist organization.