Erdogan blocked CIA-Mossad plan for armed Kurdish uprising in Iran, report says

Officials speaking to the British newspaper The Telegraph said a plan for an armed Kurdish uprising against Iran, which had been discussed by the CIA and Mossad, was blocked by President Erdogan.

In February, during a visit to the White House, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proposed an attack on Iran’s western borders by an army consisting of thousands of Kurdish militiamen from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq under US air cover as a formula to overthrow the Iranian government.

Under the operation developed by Mossad and discussed with the CIA, they were to cross the Iraqi Kurdistan border into Iran to stoke an uprising that would overthrow the Iranian government “forever”.

According to information obtained by The Telegraph, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was displeased by the prospect of armed Kurdish forces in the region, intervened in the matter and ultimately forced Israel and the US to terminate this covert operation.

The official added: “A few of these conditions did not materialize, for reasons I will not go into detail here. This is due not to a lack of foresight, but either to an operational failure or to decisions taken.”

According to Israeli and Gulf sources, Erdogan, understood to be one of the world leaders Trump trusts most, told the US president that he would not tolerate Kurdish independence anywhere in the region.

Upon learning of this plan, Erdogan became concerned that arming Kurdish militiamen would lead to “broad segments of his political enemies becoming armed and dangerous” on Türkiye’s eastern border.

According to the newspaper, Erdogan’s intervention contributed to “the failure of one of the most ambitious attempts at regime change in this war, which turned into a quagmire and failed to achieve its objectives.”

Trump said that regime change had already been carried out twice and that the new government was much more “sensible” than the previous ones.

According to The New York Times, following the meeting at the White House, US officials assessed that elements of Netanyahu’s presentation, which included the possibility of a ground invasion of Iran by the Kurds, were “detached from reality”.

While receiving a briefing from CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Trump described the Israeli prime minister’s regime change scenarios in a single word: “ridiculous”.

Nevertheless, this situation did not prevent Mr. Trump from pursuing the idea. The president met with Kurdish leaders on March 1 and continued to exert pressure on local officials who could benefit from Tehran’s weakness.

In a move seen as an obvious preparation for an attack, Israel bombed positions in western Iran, including regime officials, military bases, missile systems, outposts, and Basij facilities.

This situation led to speculation that Israel was laying the groundwork for the advance of the Kurds.

It was reported that fighters from all six Iranian Kurdish factions joined the attack to be launched from Iraqi Kurdistan, and these fighters would also supply weapons to Kurds inside Iran.

The coalition was allegedly ready for the invasion on March 18. All they needed was a green light from Trump.

As preparations continued, Kurdish organizations also began expressing concerns about their situation regarding the Iranian leadership, demanding “political guarantees” beyond mere military support.

A senior Israeli official told The Telegraph: “Intelligence did not promise that [regime change] would happen. It said that you could increase the probability or likelihood of it happening.”

Shortly after the plan began to collapse, details of the operation were leaked to the American media.

Fox News reported that an attack was launched in March. This situation forced Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary at the time, to clarify that the US was not arming the Kurds for this purpose.

At the same time, it is understood that Erdogan was lobbying in Washington for the cancellation of the plan.

Gulf countries also reportedly warned that an ethnic division of Iran could destabilize the entire Middle East.

This failure was not well received in Tel Aviv. Mossad Director Roman Gofman decided to dismiss the agency’s top two officials who had helped prepare the regime change plan.

According to insider information, during a final meeting in the Oval Office on July 28, the topic of regime change was raised once again.

Netanyahu stated that regime change was still possible under certain conditions, but he did not appear to convince Trump.

Trump ultimately preferred a long-term economic blockade over air strikes to end the war.