PENJWEN, Iraq — From their hideouts in the Iraqi mountains near Iran, leftist Kurdish rebels say they are ready to fight the Islamic Republic, but hope for an uprising before they intervene, with or without US support.

After saying that he would be “all for” a Kurdish offensive on Iran, US President Donald Trump appeared to backtrack Saturday, saying he did not want such an attack.

“If there is an attack on the Kurdish people… then with every means… we are ready to resist as we always have,” said senior commander Roken Nerada of the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), speaking Sunday to AFP.

“I think we can achieve our rights without the help of the US or any other country,” said Nerada, 39, who joined the rebels 17 years ago.

Like other Iranian Kurdish rebel groups, PJAK has bases in the mountains of Iraq’s northern autonomous Kurdistan region, but it also maintains hideouts in majority-Kurdish areas inside Iran.

Iran has designated Kurdish rebel groups as terrorist organizations, and many have previously fought its security forces in Kurdish-majority areas along the border.

But in recent years, under political pressure mostly from their Iraqi hosts, they have largely refrained from armed activity — raising questions about their current capacity to lead an armed offensive against Iran.

AFP journalists met 30 PJAK fighters in a bunker adorned with photos of fallen comrades, with a television inside showing war coverage with smoke rising from Tehran and Beirut.

Since the Middle East war began late February with a wave of US-Israeli strikes on Iran, Tehran has repeatedly struck Kurdish militants’ positions in Iraq, accusing them of serving Western or Israeli interests.

Ground attack, not yet

Just before the war, and after anti-government protests in Iran, PJAK joined a coalition of Kurdish rebel parties seeking to overthrow the Islamic Republic and secure self determination.

“We are ready to fight, especially after what they did 50 days ago,” PJAK fighter Shwan said, referring to the crackdown on the protests in Iran that left thousands, if not tens of thousands, dead.

Trump has put the number of Iranians killed by the regime for protesting against the government earlier this year at 32,000.

Amid reports that rebels might collaborate with the US, Tehran threatened to target “all facilities” in Iraqi Kurdistan if Kurdish militants cross the border. But on Saturday, Trump pivoted, saying “we’re not looking to the Kurds going in.”

“We don’t want to make the war any more complex than it already is,” he added.

However, Amir Karimi, another commander in PJAK, told AFP last week that the “Americans are already in the area, and we have had a dialogue.”

It was “a political exchange… to get to know each other,” Karimi said, adding that “a ground attack is not on the table at this stage.”

“From a strategic and tactical point of view, we believe it wouldn’t be a good idea,” he added, warning that Iranian forces have reinforced the borders.

“The most important thing is that the population itself becomes a driving force. There must be a popular uprising” in Iran, Karimi said. “We are not waiting for Iran or the United States to give us the green light. But the population needs support from the outside.”

The Kurds will need guarantees to secure a democratic Iran, he said.

“Who can say that, tomorrow, they won’t support another dictator and bring him to power,” Karimi said, referring to the US.

“What is important… is to change this current darkness into a democratic Iran,” said Nerada.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

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