CIA's Secret Plan To Trigger An Uprising Inside Iran Using Iraq-Based Kurdish Forces, Revealed

Last Updated:March 04, 2026, 21:19 IST

The Donald Trump administration has been in active discussions with Iranian opposition groups and Kurdish leaders in Iraq, as per the report.

The CIA is working to arm Kurdish forces with the aim of fomenting a popular uprising inside Iran, CNN reported citing multiple people in the know. The covert operation began several months before the current war in Iran and is now accelerating as Operation Epic Fury enters its fifth day.

The Donald Trump administration has been in active discussions with Iranian opposition groups and Kurdish leaders in Iraq about providing them with military support, as per the report, in a bid to jumpstart regime change from within while US and Israeli airstrikes pummel Iran from above.

The Plan And Its Logic

The strategy, as described by people familiar with the discussions, has several interlocking objectives. Kurdish armed forces- which have thousands of fighters operating along the Iraq-Iran border, primarily in Iraq’s Kurdistan region- would engage Iranian security forces and pin them down, making it easier for unarmed civilians in Iran’s major cities to take to the streets without being massacred.

A separate strand of thinking centres on whether Kurdish forces could take and hold territory in northern Iran, creating a buffer zone for Israel. A third goal is simply to sow chaos and stretch the Iranian regime’s military resources thin.

“The Iranian people are generally unarmed as a whole and unless the security services collapse, it’ll be difficult for them to take over unless someone arms them," Alex Plitsas, a CNN national security analyst and former senior Pentagon official, told CNN.

“I believe the US is hopeful that this will inspire others on the ground in Iran to do the same." Plitsas said the US was “clearly trying to jump-start" the process of Iranians overthrowing the regime.

The CIA support for Iranian Kurdish groups began several months before the war erupted, one source and a senior Kurdistan Regional Government official confirmed.

Trump Calls Kurdish Leaders

Trump spoke directly with Mustafa Hijri, president of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI), a senior Iranian Kurdish official told CNN. The KDPI was among the Kurdish groups that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targeted with dozens of drones on Tuesday.

Trump also called Iraqi Kurdish leaders on Sunday to discuss the US military operation and how the two sides could work together as the mission progresses, two US officials and a third source familiar with the conversations said, as first reported by Axios.

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. Several Kurdish groups have already released public statements since the war began hinting at imminent action and urging Iranian military forces to defect.

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