Muslimgauze

According to the New York Times, Kurdish forces in Iraq are preparing armed units that could enter Iran. The C.I.A. previously gave small arms to the Kurdish forces as part of a covert program to destabilize Iran even before the current war began, they report. 

The White House press secretary said reports that the president had any plan for the Kurds to launch an insurgency in Iran were “completely false,” so we know that it's true.

The Kurds, an ethnic group that stretches across parts of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran, have long sought a national homeland, either as a state or through self-governed regions within other countries. But as the late British musician, Muslimgauze, points out, there is still no Kurdistan on the map. 

U.S. air strikes in western Iran have concentrated on locations near highways that run from the Iraqi border into Iran, hitting Islamic Revolutionary Guards facilities, police stations, and border-guard posts and communications towers. The bombing campaign would make an incursion by Kurdish forces from Iraq easier, reducing the strength of Iranian forces that could seek to stop the invasion.

The United States has a long history of abandoning the Kurds. After the 1991 Persian Gulf war, the United States encouraged a Kurdish uprising in Iraq, but then stood by as the Iraqi army slaughtered Kurdish forces. During his first term, the Stable Genius pulled back troops protecting Kurdish regions of northern Syria at Erdoğan's request so that Turkey could bomb the Kurds. 

Kurdish leaders are understandably hesitant to work with the U.S., given the potential costs to their people if the effort failed. Still, some Kurdish forces in Iraq have decided to go forward with a plan to send forces into Iran. Their hope is that once an insurgency is launched, local residents will join them. It is estimated there are 6 to 9 million Kurds among Iran's 90 million people.