By STELLA MARTANY
IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — Officials with one of the armed Kurdish Iranian dissident groups based in northern Iraq told The Associated Press that they are not planning an imminent cross-border attack on Iran but would join a ground invasion if the U.S. were to launch one.
The comments appeared to be aimed at reassuring Iraqi Kurdish officials, who have said they do not want attacks to be launched against Iran from their territory, fearing that they will be further dragged into the war in the Middle East sparked by the U.S. and Israel’s strikes on Iran.
In the event of a U.S. ground operation, “then we would enter alongside the coalition forces,” said Khalil Nadiri, an official with the Kurdistan Freedom Party PAK, in an interview with the AP Thursday. But he said, “The Kurds must not place themselves as the spearhead of the attack.”
He added that his group also has armed members already present inside of Iran and that they would not necessarily require cross-border support if they were to stage an uprising.
Nadiri said the Kurdish groups have been in contact with the U.S. and Israel but denied having received any material aid from them.
The comments came after Kurdish officials said earlier this week that the Kurdish Iranian dissident groups based in northern Iraq are preparing for a potential cross-border military operation in Iran, and the U.S. had asked Iraqi Kurds to support them
Rebaz Sharifi, a military commander with the PAK, said it would be “a very positive development” if the U.S. and its allies were to arm the Kurdish groups, but also denied that they have received any such support so far.
Sharifi said he expects that at some point, U.S. President Donald Trump “might want the peshmerga forces of Eastern Kurdistan to participate in the conflict during a ground invasion” and “if it reaches that point, we, for our part, would be pleased with it.”
However, the two officials sought to dispel the fears of Iraqi Kurdish officials that Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdish region would be used as a launching pad.
Peshawa Hawramani, spokesperson for the Kurdistan Regional Government, said in a statement earlier this week that “allegations claiming that we are part of a plan to arm and send Kurdish opposition parties into Iranian territory are completely unfounded” and that the Iraqi Kurdish parties do not want to “expand the war and tensions in the region.”
Already Iran and allied Iraqi militias have launched dozens of missiles and drone attacks into northern Iraq, targeting the U.S. bases and consulate in Irbil as well as bases of the Iranian Kurdish dissident groups.
Sharifi said PAK’s bases have been attacked twice with ballistic missiles and four times with drones since the start of the war, killing one of their fighters and wounding three others.
Nadiri said that “since the (Iraqi) Kurdistan region has adopted a policy of not becoming a part of this conflict and because we do not want to disrupt the stability and security here and we respect the laws of this region, consequently, the environment has not yet been established for us to move our forces back into Eastern Kurdistan.”
He was using the term used by Kurdish groups to refer to the Kurdish region of Iran.
The potential military involvement of the Kurds has raised tensions with other Iranian opposition groups – notably the faction led by the former shah’s son, Reza Pahlavi, who has accused the Kurds of being separatists aiming to carve up Iran.
Sharifi said that his group’s “ultimate goal is the statehood of the Kurds in all four regions and the reunification of Kurdistan,” referring to the Kurdish areas that are currently split among Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria.
Nadiri said that a confederal system could be a “viable solution” that would allow the Kurdish area to remain part of Iran while maintaining its “own sovereignty, identity, and unique characteristics.”
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