TEHRAN/ANKARA: US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would approve of an offensive by Iranian Kurdish fighters into Iran.

“I think it’s wonderful that they want to do that, I’d be all for it,” Trump said in an interview with news agency Reuters.

Trump declined to say if the United States would provide air cover to Kurdish forces.

Iran has been striking Iranian Kurdish groups based in autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan whom Tehran accuses of serving Western and Israeli interests. Several Iranian Kurdish groups back fighting for greater autonomy within Iran, angering the Islamic republic but also many opponents, including monarchists who insist on territorial integrity.

Turkiye ‘closely’ monitoring fighter groups

While Kurds have historically had less friction with the Iranian state than their brethren in Iraq, Turkiye and Syria, Iranian Kurds form some of Iran’s rare armed and organised opposition groups. Experts say they could potentially help special forces infiltrate and destabilise Iran.

Tehran said it had hit Iraq-based Kurdish groups “opposed to the revolution”, as reports said the United States was looking to arm Kurdish guerillas to infiltrate Iran.

The strikes which killed a member from an exiled Iranian Kurdish group, according to a representative, followed a warning from Iranian officials.

“Separatist groups should not think that a breeze has blown and try to take action,” said Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. “We will not tolerate them in any way.” The strikes were further evidence of how the war launched by the United States and Israel is drawing in parties across the region.

Turkiye warns Kurds

Turkiye’s defence ministry on Thursday said it was “closely” following the actions of Kurdish militant groups over concerns they are being drawn into the war, reportedly by US-led efforts to destabilise Iran.

The move came as reports suggested Washington was looking to arm Kurdish guerrillas to infiltrate Iran — a move that would likely raise hackles in Turkiye.

“We are closely following PJAK’s activities in Iran and regional developments,” the Turkish defence ministry said of an Iran-based Kurdish group which is an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdish militant PKK.

“Activities of groups like the PJAK terrorist organisation, which promote ethnic separatism, negatively affect not only Iran’s security but also the overall peace and stability of the region,” the ministry said.

“Turkiye supports the territorial integrity of neighbouring states, not their fragmentation.” On February 22, the PJAK (the Kurdistan Free Life Party) and four other exiled Kurdish groups announced a political coalition to seek the overthrow of the Islamic Republic and ultimately to secure Kurdish self-determination.

Spread across Turkiye, Syria, Iraq and Iran, the Kurds are one of Iran’s most important non-Persian ethnic minority groups and have long supported anti-government protests in the Islamic Republic.

Turkiye has been seeking to end its conflict with the PKK, which formally disbanded last year after four decades of violence that claimed some 50,000 lives.

Although most PKK-linked groups embraced the call to disarm, the PJAK did not, with Ankara concerned any regional unrest could embolden recalcitrant Kurdish separatists.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2026