US President Donald Trump speaks about the conflict in Iran at the White House on April 6, 2026. Photo: AFP
WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump on Monday said he prefers Kurdish forces to remain away from the ongoing Iran war, citing potential risks and complications.
“I'd rather have them stay away because I think they bring with them some problems and some difficult[ties] and they bring death, I mean, you know, to themselves, but I'd rather have them stay away,” Trump said during a press conference, responding to a question from Rudaw about the potential role of Kurdish forces in the war with Iran.
His remarks came hours after he made claims regarding US weapons allegedly sent to Iranian protesters.
“We sent guns, a lot of guns, they were supposed to go to the people so they could fight back against these thugs," Trump told reporters hours ahead of the press conference, adding that "the people that they sent them to kept them because they said, 'What a beautiful gun, I think I'll keep it.'"
"So I'm very upset with a certain group of people and they're going to pay a big price for that,” Trump added.
He continued, “But the Iranian people will fight back as soon as they know they're not going to be shot and as soon as they can get weapons. If they had weapons, not many of them, if they had weapons it would go the other way."
Trump’s remarks came after Fox News correspondent Trey Yingst said that, following the country’s deadly anti-government protests in January, “President Trump told me the United States sent guns to the Iranian protestors. He told me we sent them a lot of guns. We sent them to the Kurds. And the president says he thinks the Kurds kept them. He went on to say we sent guns to the protestors, a lot of them.”
However, several Iranian Kurdish opposition groups denied receiving US arms on Sunday.
Mohammed Nazif Qaderi, a senior official from the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), told Rudaw on Sunday, “Those statements made are baseless and we haven't received any weapons. The weapons we have are from 47 years ago, and we obtained them on the Islamic Republic's battlefield, and we bought some from the market.”
He emphasized, “Our policy is not to make demonstrations violent and use harsh methods, rather we believe we must make our demands in a peaceful and civil manner without weapons.”
The conflict between the US and Israel on one side and Iran on the other, which began on February 28, has continued to escalate. Iran and its aligned armed groups have continued its drone and missile strikes on the regional countries, including the Kurdistan Region.
A wave of drone and missile attacks struck multiple areas across the Kurdistan Region overnight into early Monday, targeting headquarters and camps of Iranian Kurdish opposition parties, though no casualties were reported.
The strikes come amid escalating regional tensions. According to Rudaw tracking, nearly 670 drones and missiles have targeted the Kurdistan Region since February 28, following the US-Israel military campaign against Iran.
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