Fox News’ Jen Griffin reported that Kurdish forces have launched a ground offensive in Iran’s northwest, a region with a large Kurdish population.
Initial Reports
“Thousands of Iraqi Kurds have launched a ground offensive in Iran,” Griffin reported at 4:13 p.m. Eastern Time, citing an unnamed U.S. official.
Barak Ravid, the senior foreign affairs correspondent, also said Iranian Kurdish forces had carried out attacks inside Iranian territory.
The involvement of Iraqi Kurds remains disputed as of this report.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the leading political party in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, denied any role in a ground operation or participation in a broader U.S.-Israel war against Iran.
Aziz Ahmad, deputy chief of staff to Iraqi Kurdistan Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, explicitly disputed Griffin’s reporting on Iraqi Kurdish involvement.
“Not a single Iraqi Kurd has crossed the border,” he said in response to Griffin’s post, calling contrary reports “patently false.”
Not a single Iraqi Kurd has crossed the border.
This is patently false. https://t.co/MOFdlcvQ9N
— Aziz Ahmad (@azizkahmad) March 4, 2026
U.S. Discussions and Media Reporting
Several outlets, including CNN and Reuters, reported that U.S. officials had discussed with Iranian Kurdish opposition groups the possibility of a limited cross-border operation into western Iran.
Those discussions were described as exploratory and reportedly took place over several months amid ongoing U.S. and Israeli combat actions against Iran.
Sources familiar with the planning said talks focused on how armed Kurdish groups could engage Iranian security forces in border areas.
Who’s Involved
Primary actors are Iranian Kurdish opposition organizations based along the Iran-Iraq border inside Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdistan Region.
A coalition formed on February 22, called the Coalition of Political Forces in Iranian Kurdistan, includes the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI or KDPI), the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), Komala of the Toilers of Kurdistan, and the Organization of Iranian Kurdistan Struggle.
Those groups have a long history of periodic clashes with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and operate armed wings often described as Peshmerga-style fighters.
Alongside our brave men stand the women of the Peshmerga (PAK) from East Kurdistan, occupied by Iran..
Kurds for Kurds – fighting for an independent Kurdish state. A distinctly Kurdish and Kurdistani vision, free from hostile, corrosive ideologies that stand against the Kurdish… pic.twitter.com/bBNFnUwdWg
— Kurdistan (@Kurdistan_C) March 2, 2026
Capabilities and Context
Kurdish forces in northern Iraq, including the KRG’s Peshmerga, gained combat experience fighting ISIS between 2014 and 2017 and in earlier conflicts.
Peshmerga units number in the tens of thousands across the region and are effective in mountainous border terrain using light infantry tactics, small arms, and limited artillery.
Recent U.S. transfers of 105 mm howitzers have modestly improved their indirect-fire capabilities, though they lack combat aircraft, advanced air defenses, or large armored formations.
The Iranian Kurdish opposition groups themselves field smaller forces, with estimates of roughly 1,000 to 2,000 fighters per coalition group.
Iran is home to an estimated nine to ten million Kurds, about ten percent of the national population, concentrated in provinces such as Kurdistan, Kermanshah, West Azerbaijan, and Ilam.
The Kurds have long sought statehood, and U.S. and coalition forces previously supported Kurdish forces against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
