Trump says he backs a Kurdish offensive inside Iran

US President Donald Trump said Thursday he would approve of an offensive by Iranian Kurdish fighters into Iran in support of the US-Israeli war against Iran.

“I think it’s wonderful that they want to do that, I’d be all for it,” Trump said in an interview with Reuters.

When asked if the US would provide or had offered air cover, he responded, “I can’t tell you that,” but added that the objective for the Kurds would be “to win.”

“If they’re going to do that, that’s good,” Trump added.

Iranian Kurdish militias have consulted with the United States in recent days about whether, and how, to attack Iran’s security forces in the western part of the country, according to three sources with knowledge of the matter.

The Iranian Kurdish coalition of groups based on the Iran-Iraq border in the semi-autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan has been training to mount such an attack in hopes of weakening the country’s military, as the United States and Israel pound Iranian targets with bombs and missiles.

Since the United States and Israel launched the war on Saturday, Iran has been striking Iranian Kurdish groups based in autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan whom Tehran accuses of serving Western and Israeli interests.

While Kurds have historically had less friction with the Iranian state than their brethren in Iraq, Turkey and Syria, Iranian Kurds form some of Iran’s rare armed and organized opposition groups.

Experts say they could potentially help special forces infiltrate and destabilize Iran.

Trump also signaled confidence that the major shipping route near Iran, the Strait of Hormuz, will remain open.

Closing the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow chokepoint between Iran and Oman through which a fifth of the world’s crude oil and liquefied natural gas passes, has been one of Iran’s main objectives, and shipping through the crucial energy artery has ground to a near halt after Iranian hits on six vessels.

“They have no navy, you know the navy is now at the bottom of the sea,” Trump said. “I’m watching Hormuz very closely.”