As the war between the United States and Iran enters its seventh day, US President Donald Trump has expressed support for Kurdish fighters potentially joining the conflict, describing the prospect as “wonderful.” His remarks have once again drawn global attention to the Kurds—one of the largest ethnic groups in the world without an independent state.
In a telephonic interview with Reuters, Trump said he would welcome Kurdish involvement in the ongoing hostilities in the Gulf region. “I think it’s wonderful that they want to do that, I’d be all for it,” the 79-year-old Republican leader said, referring to reports that Kurdish groups may prepare military operations against Iran.
Trump’s comments follow reports suggesting that Iranian Kurdish groups are preparing a cross-border military operation into Iran. According to reporting by The Associated Press, several Kurdish factions based in northern Iraq are discussing plans to attack Iranian targets, claiming decades of oppression since the 1979 revolution.
The reports also indicate that the United States has approached Kurdish authorities in Iraq seeking support in the conflict. However, Kurdish leaders in Iraq have reportedly shown hesitation about directly entering the war, mindful of the regional consequences and the delicate political balance in the area.
The Kurds are an ethnic minority spread across the Middle East, primarily living in Iraq, Syria, Türkiye and Armenia, with a significant population also in Iran. Estimates place their total population between 30 million and 40 million people.
Despite their large population, the Kurds do not have an independent country. After World War I, they were promised the possibility of a separate homeland, but the plan was never realized. Since then, Kurdish movements across the region have repeatedly called for autonomy or statehood.
Kurdish forces have also played a key role in modern Middle Eastern conflicts. They were among the most effective ground forces fighting the extremist group Islamic State, also known as ISIS, working alongside the United States and its allies to defeat the group in Iraq and Syria.
In Iran, Kurds make up roughly 8 to 17 percent of the country’s population. Kurdish political aspirations date back decades, including the brief establishment of the Republic of Mahabad in 1946, a short-lived Kurdish state that was quickly dismantled by Iranian forces.
Kurdish groups say they faced repression under Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, and claim that persecution intensified after the Iranian Revolution of 1979. Thousands of Kurdish fighters and civilians were killed during clashes with Iranian security forces in the years that followed.
Tehran, however, has long accused Kurdish militant organizations of separatism and attempting to break away from Iranian territory. Many Kurdish armed groups eventually relocated their bases to northern Iraq, a development that has periodically strained relations between Tehran and Baghdad.
In 2023, Iraq and Iran reached an agreement aimed at disarming Kurdish armed groups operating on Iraqi soil. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani had said the deal required armed groups to be disarmed and relocated from their military bases to camps supervised by the Iraqi government.
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