US President Donald Trump said on Thursday in an interview with Reuters that he fully supports the concept of an offensive by Kurdish militias against Iran. At the same time, he declined to specify whether Iranian Kurds would receive U.S. air support.
“I think it's great that they want to do it, I would be totally in favor of it,” Trump said when asked about reports of a planned offensive. However, when asked whether the US offered or would guarantee air support for the attack by Kurdish militias, the president told reporters that he “cannot tell them that.”
In a conversation with the agency, Trump repeated his earlier words that he wanted to be involved in selecting “the person who will lead Iran into the future,” as was the case with Venezuela.
– We don't have to come back every five years and do it over and over again… (I want) someone who will be great for the people, great for the country, he stressed. The president said in an earlier interview with Axios that he must be involved in the selection of Iran's new supreme leader. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who held this position for nearly 37 years, was killed on February 28, on the first day of the conflict.
In a conversation with Reuters, Trump assured that the operation in Iran is going better than expected and that there is no problem with the availability of ammunition. At the same time, when asked about Ukraine's offer of help in combating Iranian drones, Trump replied that he would “certainly accept help from any country.”
On Wednesday, several media outlets in the US and Israel reported that Iranian Kurdish militias had launched an offensive in northwestern Iran. The Iraqi Kurdistan media denied these reports, although some, such as the Kurdish station Rudaw, reported that preparations for such an attack were underway.
According to The Atlantic, American services have been preparing Kurdish militias for military operations in Iran for months. Mustafa Hijri, leader of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI), which is expected to lead the attack, was scheduled to speak with Trump on Tuesday, according to the monthly magazine.
On Wednesday, the White House firmly denied that the US would arm Iranian Kurds.
