Several leaders of Iranian Kurdish parties denied that they have received weapons from the United States, after President Donald Trump said that Washington had sent arms to the Iranian protesters through the Kurds. "We sent guns to the protesters, a lot of them," Trump told Fox News [8] by telephone on April 5. "And I think the Kurds took the guns." He later reiterated [14] to Fox on camera: "We sent guns, a lot of guns. They were supposed to go to the people, so they could fight back against these thugs. You know what happened? The people that they sent them to kept them."
These claims were quickly refuted by Iran's Kurdish opposition parties. "We did not receive any weapons during the time of the demonstrations in Iran," Hejar Berenji, stateside representative of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI [9]) told Fox News [15].
Siamand Moeini, a senior leader in the armed Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK [11]), similarly denied the report. "We as PJAK, as I know, have not received anything. As for others, I cannot answer," he told Middle East Eye [16].
Hana Yazdanpanah, foreign representative for the Iraq-based Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK [9]), which has a wide following in Iran, told Middle East Eye that they still have their "old Kalashnikov that we fought ISIS with for five years and the weapons they abandoned after its defeat." She added: "We have received no single weapon from the US at this time."
Immediately after the US and Israel launched their air campaign against Israel, Tehran embarked on a barrage of missile and drone attacks against Kurdish targets in northern Iraq. Iranian drone strikes targeted camps of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI [10]) in the Koya district, along with a KDPI headquarters in Erbil province (AW [17])
