Thousands of Iraqi Kurdish fighters have launched a ground offensive into Iran, a U.S. official told Fox News.
The development comes as the conflict between the United States, Israel and Iran continues to escalate across the region.
Earlier Wednesday, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the U.S. military is not arming an insurgency inside Iran, though he suggested other parts of the U.S. government could potentially be involved.
At the White House, press secretary Karoline Leavitt denied reports that the Trump administration has agreed to arm Kurdish forces.
“I can comment on the fact that the president has held many calls with partners, allies and leaders in the region, in the Middle East,” Leavitt said.
“He did speak to Kurdish leaders with respect to our base that we have in northern Iraq. But as for any report suggesting that the president has agreed to any such plan is completely false and should not be written.”
Meanwhile, an American submarine sank an Iranian warship named the Soleimani in the Indian Ocean overnight — the first such US attack on a member of an enemy fleet since World War II, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday.
The “quiet death” strike on Iran’s prized vessel, the IRIS Shahid Soleimani, unfolded late Tuesday off the southern coast of Sri Lanka, Hegseth said, telling reporters during a Pentagon briefing that the ship “thought it was safe in international waters.”
