Iranian Kurdish opposition groups say they are prepared to challenge Tehran but are holding back as the US-Israel-Iran war continues to unfold.

Already Iran and allied Iraqi militias have launched dozens of missiles and drone attacks into northern Iraq, targeting the U.S. bases and consulate in Irbil as well as bases of the Iranian Kurdish dissident groups.

The Kurdish minority in Iraq has come under Iranian fire in recent days.

The CIA is working to arm Kurdish forces with the aim of fomenting a popular uprising in Iran and the Trump administration has been in active discussions with Iranian opposition groups and Kurdish leaders in Iraq about providing them with military support,

A Kurdish official said armed forces have already evacuated the Iranian city of Mariwan and established defensive locations around the area

Kurdish Iranian dissident groups based in northern Iraq are preparing for a potential cross-border military operation in Iran, and the U.S. has asked Iraqi Kurds to support them, Kurdish officials have told The Associated Press.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on the 7th regarding the possibility of Kurds scattered across the Middle East joining the war to assist U.S. forces, “We do not want their intervention. I have conveyed to them not to intervene directly.

Two people familiar with Trump’s outreach said he spoke to Iranian Kurdish leaders. This included a phone call with a senior figure in the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), one of the oldest Iranian Kurdish dissident groups — a reported first by a US president.