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President Donald Trump on Sunday claimed that the US provided guns to the anti-regime protestors in Iran, adding that the “Kurds took the guns”.
We sent them a lot of guns. We sent them through the Kurds. And I think the Kurds kept them,” Trump told Fox News over a telephonic interview.
“We sent guns to the protesters, a lot of them. And I think the Kurds took the guns,” he added.
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The US President was referring to the Kurd community, a roughly 30-million community among the largest stateless ethnic groups in the world living in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. They speak their own language, with several dialects, and most are Sunni Muslims. Several of the Kurdish militant groups have been designated terrorist organisations in Iran.
Trump also claimed that the Iranian regime “slaughtered” 45,000 people during the anti-regime protests. There has been no official figure from Iran on the casualties during the demonstrations, with some activists claiming it to be 7,000 while other reports suggesting as high as 30,000.
The latest remarks come even as Trump has warned Iran made new threats to escalate strikes on Iran and its infrastructure if it doesn’t open the Strait of Hormuz by Tuesday.
In an expletive-laden Truth Social post, Trump wrote: “Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell.” He said Monday would also be “Bridge Day”.
Trump’s support to Kurds
During the ongoing war against Iran, Trump had expressed hope over a possible Kurdish offensive against Iran even as the US, along with Israel, continued its attack against the country.
“I think it’s wonderful that they want to do that, I’d be all for it,” the US president told Reuters on the prospects of a Kurdish rebellion in Iran.
However, days later, Trump said that he did not want the Kurds to launch an offensive against Iran.
Last month, Qubad Talabani, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, while speaking to Channel 4 ruled out any possibility on the involvement in US-Iran war, saying “It’s not our war.”
“We have been in too many wars…They (US) have not asked us for any assistance related to pushing or allowing Iranian opposition groups to enter Iran from Kurdistan,” Talabani said.
There are roughly 9 million Kurds in Iran. While, several of Kurdish rebels groups have been designated terrorist organisations by Tehran, many have largely refrained from armed activity in recent years under political pressure mostly from their Iraqi hosts, according to AP.
However, since the Middle East war, Tehran has repeatedly struck Kurdish militants’ positions in Iraq, accusing them of serving Western or Israeli interests.
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