CNN Reports Trump Coordinating With Kurdish Leaders to Support a Ground Operation Into Western Iran

CNN Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward joined anchor Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday to detail her latest bombshell report out of the Middle East. Ward reported that President Donald Trump has been in talks with Iranian Kurdish leaders about the U.S. supporting a Kurdish ground assault inside Iran, working toward the ultimate goal of regime change in Iran.

“Sources now telling CNN the CIA is working to arm and assist Kurdish forces. The goal we are told is to fuel a popular uprising against the regime inside Iran,” Blitzer began before introducing Ward. CNN’s chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward “live from Erbil, Iraq.”

“Clarissa, you’ve been in Iraq now for a few days. What can you tell us?” Blitzer asked.

“Well, that’s right, Wolf. We are now learning from a senior official here in Iraqi Kurdistan that this CIA operation to support these Iranian Kurdish forces has been going on now for a few months,” Ward replied, adding:

We spoke to a senior leader with the Iranian Kurdish militia groups yesterday, who told us that they believe they are going to be participating in a ground offensive into Iran in the coming days, and that they are going to be doing it with the support of the U.S. and Israel, though he would not say what exactly that support will look like. He said that President Trump himself had actually called the leader of one of these Iranian-Kurdish opposition groups.

And as if in response to this reporting, Wolf, this morning the Iranians hit one of those Iranian Kurdish militia bases with a missile. This is the first time we’re seeing them use a missile—they’ve used drones to attack these bases in the last couple of days, but this was a missile. At least one Peshmerga fighter was killed, and there is now very real fear here in Iraqi Kurdistan, with the leadership, that Iran could launch massive retaliatory strikes if this ground offensive goes ahead. The leader here who I spoke to said that the Iranians had warned Iraqi Kurdistan just a few days ago that if a single Iranian Kurdish fighter crosses that border, there will be hell to pay.

He also said that one of the issues they have here in Iraqi Kurdistan, even though they have very little love for their neighbors in Iran, is that they feel the U.S. policy, or the strategic objective of this war, keeps changing. This source told me: one day President Trump says it’s regime change, one day he says something completely different. And so they have a really strong concern that, among this shifting policy, they could effectively end up getting thrown under the bus, so to speak. And it’s important to remember—and I know it gets confusing for our viewers—that there’s a difference between the Iraqi-Kurdish leadership here in Iraqi Kurdistan and the Iranian Kurdish forces who are being supported by the CIA, with the goal of going into Iran and launching some kind of offensive that they are hoping could foment instability and unrest. The Iraqi Kurdish leadership believes that they will be the ones to pay the price if this does indeed go ahead, Wolf.

Ward also joined Anderson Cooper on Tuesday night and reported, “An Iranian Kurdish senior leader told us Iranian Kurdish forces are preparing a ground operation inside Western Iran in the coming days with the support of the US and Israel.”

“President Trump actually spoke on the phone today with the leader of the KDPI [Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan], one of the big Iranian Kurdish groups here. He wouldn’t characterize the details of the conversation, but said it was a positive conversation,” she added on AC360.

Watch the clip above via CNN.

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