Conflicting reports about Kurdish militia offensive in Iran

There are conflicting reports about whether Kurdish militias have launched a ground offensive into northwestern Iran near the border with Iraq.

Fox News reported Wednesday that thousands of Kurdish fighters had crossed from Iraq into Iran and begun a ground offensive, citing a U.S. official. The fighters were described as Iranian Kurds who had been living in Iraq and are now returning to northwestern Iran as part of the operation.

However, Kurdish sources and regional officials dispute that account and say no such operation has begun.

Barak Ravid, an Israeli journalist who covers Middle East diplomacy for outlets including Axios, said a senior official from one of the Iranian-Kurdish factions told him that reports of an ongoing ground offensive were incorrect.

A source from Komala of the Toilers of Kurdistan, an Iranian Kurdish opposition group, also rejected reports that the group had launched an incursion into western Iran, according to the Kurdish news outlet Rudaw.

Another Kurdish source denied the claim in comments to Faytuks News.

In Washington on Wednesday, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the U.S. military is not arming an insurgency inside Iran, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt denied reports that the Trump administration has agreed to arm Kurdish forces, according to Fox News.