Trump Opposed Sending Weapons to Kurds for Iranian Opposition, Knew Weapons Would “Never Get There”

President Trump appeared completely befuddled yesterday about the failure of Iraq-based Kurds to provide opponents of Iran’s Islamic regime with the American-supplied weapons they need to overthrow it. And, he said, he opposed giving weapons to the Kurds because he knew the Kurds would not transfer weapons to the Iranian opposition. 

“I said, they’ll never get there,“ Trump said of the weapons. “I said, they’re gonna keep it. And I was right.”

Kurdish help for the Iranian opposition is what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu predicted when, in February, he hornswoggled Trump into ordering U.S. forces to attack Iran. U.S. intelligence officials called Netanyahu’s prediction “farcical,” but Trump went ahead with the attack anyway.

Now, Trump wonders why the regime hasn’t fallen and says he opposed sending weapons to the Kurds. 

As counterterror advisor Joe Kent wrote on X, Trump now blames the Kurds instead of the Israelis who lied him into attacking Iran. Nor does he blame himself for permitting weapons shipments to the Kurds.

Background: Netanyahu’s Prediction “Detached From Reality”

The origin of Trump’s frustration with the Kurds is found in Netanyahu’s presentation to the president in the White House Situation Room on February 11.

“Netanyahu made a hard sell, suggesting that Iran was ripe for regime change and expressing the belief that a joint U.S.-Israeli mission could finally bring an end to the Islamic Republic,” as The New York Times revealed:

At one point, the Israelis played for Mr. Trump a brief video that included a montage of potential new leaders who could take over the country if the hard-line government fell. Among those featured was Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s last shah, now a Washington-based dissident who had tried to position himself as a secular leader who could shepherd Iran toward a post-theocratic government.

Mr. Netanyahu and his team outlined conditions they portrayed as pointing to near-certain victory: Iran’s ballistic missile program could be destroyed in a few weeks. The regime would be so weakened that it could not choke off the Strait of Hormuz, and the likelihood that Iran would land blows against U.S. interests in neighboring countries was assessed as minimal.

Besides, Mossad’s intelligence indicated that street protests inside Iran would begin again and — with the impetus of the Israeli spy agency helping to foment riots and rebellion — an intense bombing campaign could foster the conditions for the Iranian opposition to overthrow the regime.

But that wasn’t all. Iranian Kurds chiefly based in Iraq, Netanyahu said, would help the Iranian opposition by “mounting a ground invasion of Iran,” as the Times described the presentation. American intelligence officials called Netanyahu’s prognostications “detached from reality.” 

Indeed, CIA chief John Ratcliffe told Trump that Netanyahu’s claim about regime change was “farcical,” which prompted Secretary of State Marco Rubio to call it “bullsh*t.”

“Ratcliffe added that given the unpredictability of events in any conflict, regime change could happen, but it should not be considered an achievable objective,” the Times reported:

Several others jumped in, including [Vice President J.D.] Vance, just back from Azerbaijan, who also expressed strong skepticism about the prospect of regime change.

No wonder, on May 1, Trump declared himself unhappy with what happened to arms that went to the Kurds. “I’m not happy with the delivery of the weapons. I’m not thrilled with it,” Trump told reporters:

“A small amount of weapons were sent, and we’ll see who has them. But I’m not happy with what happened with the Kurds. The Kurds did not deliver the weapons.”

“Very Disappointed”

Yesterday, Trump again complained that Iranian opposition forces, such as they are, are weaponless. And, he said, he opposed giving weapons to the Kurds at the beginning.

Iranians “want to go out on the streets, they have no weapons. They have no guns,” Trump said:

We thought the Kurds were going to give [them] weapons, but the Kurds disappointed us. The Kurds take, take, take. They have a great reputation in Congress. Congress says oh, they fight so hard. No, they fight hard when they get paid.

I said it wasn’t going to work, by the way, I guess I have to say it. I disagreed with what they did. They gave it, and I said, they’ll never get there. And I was right. I like to be right. In this case, too bad. But, we sent some guns, with ammunition, and [they] were supposed to be delivered, but they kept it. I said they’re gonna keep it. But what do I know? I’ve only been doing this for a short period of time. What do I know?

Not much, apparently.

Kent wrote that Trump should blame Netanyahu for lying to him, and for the Israel-First advisors who permitted the prime minister to manipulate Trump into attacking Iran.

“President Trump is frustrated because the Israelis sold him the pipe dream that arming the Kurds & other Iranian dissidents would quickly topple the Iranian regime, leading to a quick victory,” Kent wrote:

This failed to happen because it was a plan based on wishful thinking not the realities on the ground.

Which is exactly what Ratcliffe told Trump after the meeting with Netanyahu on February 11.

“Instead of being mad at the Kurds, who are our critical counter terrorism partners, he should focus his ire on the Israeli government officials who lied to him to get us entrenched in this war and whoever in his inner circle that allowed the Israelis to manipulate U.S. policy to support Israel’s primary goal,” Kent continued: 

Israel’s primary goal was to get us into the war, not to make sure the pipe dream they were selling would actually work. 

Israel has always understood that they can’t topple the Iranian regime without us doing the majority of the fighting, they needed to get us into the war. 

The Israelis kept their goal in mind when feeding us “intel” about Iran. Unfortunately, President Trump’s inner circle failed to keep Israel’s main goal in mind when receiving Israeli “intel” and providing context to the President.

Kent quit his post as U.S. National Counterterrorism Director when Trump ordered U.S. forces to attack Iran at Israel’s behest.

Last week, he observed 18 U.S. intelligence agencies had assessed that Iran was not developing a nuclear weapon, a key reason the U.S. attacked.