Kurdish Leader Links Potential Iran Ground Push To Us-enforced No-fly Zone

A senior figure in Iran’s Kurdish opposition has tied any potential ground incursion into Iran to a major U.S. military decision: the establishment of a no-fly zone over Kurdish areas in western Iran. This was necessary “so that the Islamic Republic cannot attack from the air and use its military superiority,” Reza Kaabi said in an interview in Erbil with WELT, which is — as is POLITICO — part of the Axel Springer Global Reporters Network.

Kaabi is the secretary-general of the Komala of the Toilers of Kurdistan, an armed Iranian Kurdish party based in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The party maintains its own Peshmerga units and is among the Kurdish groups that could provide ground troops in the event of an escalation.

For further developments, “on the one hand the policy of President Trump, and on the other the Kurds themselves” would be decisive, he said. There have been no direct talks with the Trump administration, but the demand for a no-fly zone has been “conveyed,” he added. “The demand is clear,” he said. “We expect it to be implemented.”

Whether and when Iranian Kurdish forces from Iraq “return to their own territory depends on the situation. I believe we are approaching such conditions,” Kaabi said. Such a step would depend on several factors, according to him. In addition to the readiness of the Peshmerga, political cohesion among the Kurdish parties would have to be strengthened, the population prepared, and above all international support secured.

Kaabi also referred to the period after the 1991 Gulf War. At that time, the United States, Britain and France established a no-fly zone in northern Iraq to protect Kurdish areas from air attacks by Saddam Hussein. As a result, the militarily secured space enabled the Kurdish autonomous region to develop.

Kaabi is one of the central leaders of a recently formed alliance of Iranian Kurdish opposition parties that has repeatedly been mentioned in connection with a possible ground offensive in Iran. “We (…) are fighting for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic,” Kaabi said about the alliance’s objectives. “We are calling for a democratic, secular and federal Iran.”

The Komala party in Iraq is part of this alliance and maintains its own military structures. “We have three camps,” Kaabi said. “In these three camps our Peshmerga are stationed, trained and ready. At present around one thousand fighters are ready for deployment.” The other groups in the alliance also maintain armed forces. They are led in a decentralized manner; according to Kaabi, a central command structure is not currently planned.

The U.S. position regarding a possible Kurdish ground offensive in Iran has so far been contradictory. On Thursday, Trump told the Reuters news agency it would be “wonderful” if Iranian Kurdish militias in Iraq crossed the border to Iran. On Saturday, however, he said: “I don’t want the Kurds to go into Iran.” Turkey had previously warned that “the instrumentalization of ethnic or religious groups” could trigger a civil war in Iran, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Saturday in Istanbul. He added he had also discussed the issue with his U.S. counterpart Marco Rubio.

The Kurdish minority in Iraq has come under Iranian fire in recent days. In Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq, the airport was attacked by drones. There were also numerous attacks in Sulaymaniyah near the Iranian border.