{"id":135936,"date":"2026-03-03T08:21:01","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T08:21:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/npasyria.com\/en\/?p=135936"},"modified":"2026-03-03T08:21:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T08:21:03","slug":"trump-holds-calls-with-iraqi-kurdish-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/npasyria.com\/en\/135936\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump holds calls with Iraqi Kurdish leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) \u2013<\/strong> U.S. President Donald Trump spoke by phone with Iraqi Kurdish leaders on March 1 to discuss the ongoing U.S.-Israel war with Iran and potential regional developments, Axios reported on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The calls included conversations with Masoud Barzani and Bafel Talabani, the leaders of Iraq\u2019s two main Kurdish political factions. The contacts reportedly took place a day after the United States and Israel launched a bombing campaign against Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sources familiar with the conversations described them as \u201csensitive\u201d and declined to disclose further details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Axios cited the sources as saying that the discussions come as Kurdish forces in northern Iraq maintain thousands of fighters along the Iran-Iraq border and control strategically important areas that could become significant if the conflict expands. Iraqi Kurdish groups also maintain links with Kurdish communities inside Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to Axios, the outreach followed months of behind-the-scenes lobbying by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has reportedly urged Washington to consider Kurdish actors as part of broader regional dynamics related to Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An official cited in the report said Netanyahu believes Kurdish groups could play a role if unrest spreads inside Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When asked about the contacts, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to confirm details but said Trump had been communicating with multiple allies and partners in the region in recent days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Separately, the Kurdistan Freedom Party \u2014 an Iranian Kurdish opposition group based in northern Iraq \u2014 accused Iran on Sunday of launching missile and drone strikes against Kurdish opposition targets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Days earlier, five Iranian Kurdish opposition groups in Iraq announced the formation of the Coalition of Political Forces of Iranian Kurdistan, a new alliance aimed at opposing Tehran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kurds constitute one of the largest ethnic minorities in both Iraq and Iran and maintain an autonomous region in northern Iraq, where Kurdish Peshmerga forces have decades of combat experience, including fighting against ISIS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Analysts say Kurdish ground forces could become strategically relevant should the conflict escalate further beyond the ongoing air campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>By Jwan Shekaki<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) \u2013 U.S. President Donald Trump spoke by phone with Iraqi Kurdish leaders on March 1 to discuss the ongoing U.S.-Israel war with Iran and potential regional developments, Axios reported on Tuesday. The calls included conversations with Masoud Barzani and Bafel Talabani, the leaders of Iraq\u2019s two main Kurdish political factions. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":135938,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pgc_sgb_lightbox_settings":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[39,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home","category-middle-east"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Trump holds calls with Iraqi Kurdish leaders<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) \u2013 U.S. President Donald Trump spoke by phone with Iraqi Kurdish leaders on March 1 to discuss the ongoing U.S.-Israel war\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/npasyria.com\/en\/135936\/\" 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