In late December and early January, large-scale demonstrations erupted in Tehran, Iran's capital, as citizens protested against severe inflation and the sharp depreciation of the national currency. The protests began in the Grand Bazaar, Tehran's central commercial district, and quickly spread to multiple cities across the country, becoming the largest protest movement in Iran since the 2022 "hijab incident." At that time, former U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly made inflammatory remarks, stating that if Iranian authorities carried out what he termed a "violent crackdown," the United States would "step in to rescue" the protesters. He also encouraged demonstrators to take to the streets and seize government institutions by promising that "help is on the way." However, on the surface, these statements appeared to be more rhetoric than action, with Trump seemingly taking no substantial steps beyond verbal provocations.
Recently, however, Trey Yingst, chief foreign affairs correspondent for Fox News—a media outlet often aligned with the Republican Party—revealed that Trump, in a telephone interview, admitted for the first time that the U.S. had attempted to secretly arm Iranian protesters during the unrest. According to Yingst, large quantities of firearms intended for the protesters never reached their intended recipients, and Trump suspected that Kurdish anti-government militias, who acted as intermediaries, had seized the weapons. Kurdish groups in Iran have categorically denied these allegations.
Most Kurdish organizations have issued statements refuting claims that they served as intermediaries for U.S. weapons transfers, as reported by The Jerusalem Post. The day after Yingst's report, Trump personally confirmed aspects of the story. According to media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal and The Times of Israel, on Monday, during the White House Easter Egg Roll event, Trump publicly acknowledged that the U.S. had previously tried to arm anti-government protesters in Iran, but the weapons were intercepted and failed to reach their targets. He further warned that those who misappropriated the arms would "pay a heavy price."
"We sent guns, lots of guns, which were supposed to go to the people so they could fight back against these thugs," Trump told reporters. "You know what happened? The people who were supposed to receive them kept them for themselves." He added, "They said, 'These are great guns, I’m keeping them.' So I’m very unhappy with a certain group, and they are going to pay a heavy price." Trump continued, "But the Iranian people will rise up. Once they know they won’t be shot, once they get weapons—even if only a few have them—the situation will reverse. You know what will happen? The regime will collapse in two seconds because they can’t withstand it."
Despite Kurdish denials, Newsweek pointed out that this represents a rare instance of Washington admitting to engaging with rebel groups in another country and supplying arms to anti-government forces, directly confirming U.S. ties with Kurdish factions. During the press conference, Trump did not explicitly name the party responsible for intercepting the weapons. However, the previous Sunday, Fox correspondent Yingst had quoted Trump from a phone interview stating, "We sent a lot of guns to the Iranian protesters through the Kurds... I think the Kurds took the weapons." Trump provided no evidence to support this claim.
The Wall Street Journal reported that senior officials from Iranian Kurdish armed groups uniformly denied receiving any weapons from the U.S. and dismissed the allegations as baseless. Major Kurdish anti-government organizations in Iran include the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (PDKI), the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK), the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), and the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan. Shukriya Bradost, an expert on Kurdish issues, told The Jerusalem Post, "Based on my sources within Kurdish circles, no faction received weapons during the Iranian protests."
Hegjar Berengi, a representative of PDKI—one of the largest and most organized Kurdish anti-government forces in Iran—stated unequivocally, "We firmly deny the related report by Fox News. Any claim that we received weapons from the U.S. government is inaccurate and inconsistent with the facts." He added, "We did not receive any weapons during the protests in Iran." A member of PJAK's foreign relations committee also clarified that no such relationship exists between their organization and the U.S., emphasizing that the political alliance comprising the five major Kurdish armed factions in Iran had not engaged in any related communications with American authorities. The Komala Party similarly stated that it "has not received any form of military or weapons assistance from the United States."
Seng Sanich, a leading analyst at a transnational geopolitical intelligence firm and a recognized expert on Kurdish affairs, noted, "Kurdish groups primarily operate in Kurdish-majority areas, not in Tehran, Tabriz, or Isfahan. Logistically, delivering weapons to major Iranian cities where protests occurred would be extremely challenging." He also mentioned that Kurdish groups active in western Iran "largely rely on footpaths for small-scale personnel movements, making large-scale weapons transfers nearly impossible." Furthermore, there is no unified political entity within Iran capable of receiving weapons from Kurdish groups. "Non-Kurdish Iranian opposition groups are highly fragmented and lack a central leadership. This is regrettable but true." A divided opposition also lacks the ability to maintain secure logistical channels to border regions such as Iraq, Turkey, or Afghanistan. "If such networks existed, anti-government groups would not need U.S. weapons to reach major cities."
Notably, over the past month, the Trump administration has displayed inconsistent stances regarding support for Kurdish attacks against Iran. On March 5, U.S. media cited sources claiming that Trump had requested Kurdish assistance in U.S. operations within Iran. Just two days later, he publicly ruled out the involvement of Kurdish forces in military actions against Iran, stating that he did "not want to further complicate conflicts involving the U.S., Israel, and Iran." During the White House press conference following the Easter event on Monday, when asked if he wanted "the Kurds to get involved in this war," Trump continued his verbal attacks against them. "I’d rather they stay away, because I think they bring problems and trouble," he responded. "They bring death upon themselves…"
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