据Axios新闻网报道，三位知情人士透露，特朗普总统周日与伊拉克库尔德领导人通了电话，讨论了美以对伊战争以及战争的后续发展。

库尔德人在两伊边境部署了数千名士兵，并控制着一些战略要地，这些地区在战争发展过程中可能发挥重要作用。伊拉克库尔德人与伊朗库尔德少数民族也关系密切。

两位消息人士称，在周六的空袭行动开始后的第二天，特朗普与伊拉克两大库尔德派系领导人——马苏德·巴尔扎尼和巴菲尔·塔拉巴尼——进行了通话。

一位知情人士表示，通话内容“敏感”，并拒绝透露通话细节。

另一位消息人士称，此次通话是以色列总理内塔尼亚胡数月幕后游说的成果。几十年来，以色列与叙利亚、伊拉克和伊朗的库尔德人保持着密切的安全、军事和情报联系。

一位官员表示：“普遍的看法，当然也包括内塔尼亚胡的看法，就是库尔德人将会挺身而出……他们将会起义。”

内塔尼亚胡一直“不遗余力”地敦促对伊朗发动打击并推翻其政权，他首次在白宫与特朗普会面时就公开支持库尔德人。

这位官员说：“他第一次来白宫与特朗普坐了几个小时，你会觉得内塔尼亚胡已经胸有成竹。”

这位官员补充道：“他已经计划好了接班人。他对库尔德人也了如指掌：两支库尔德武装力量分散在各地。这么多人将会奋起反抗。”

当被问及特朗普与库尔德人的通话时，白宫新闻秘书卡罗琳·莱维特拒绝透露具体细节。

她告诉Axios新闻网：“在过去的几天里，特朗普总统一直与该地区的许多盟友和伙伴保持联系。”周日，库尔德斯坦自由党——一个总部设在伊拉克库尔德斯坦地区的库尔德裔伊朗反对派组织——指责伊朗发动了一场惩罚性的导弹和无人机袭击行动。

战争爆发前六天，五个在伊拉克避难的库尔德异见团体宣布成立伊朗库尔德斯坦政治力量联盟，以对抗伊朗。

库尔德人是伊拉克最大的少数民族，也是伊朗最大的少数民族之一，他们常被描述为世界上最大的无国籍民族。他们的祖居地横跨土耳其东南部、叙利亚北部、伊拉克北部和伊朗西北部。

库尔德人统治着伊拉克北部的一个自治区，这得益于2003年美国入侵伊拉克推翻了独裁者萨达姆·侯赛因政权。

库尔德武装被称为“佩什梅加”，意为“直面死亡的人”，他们在伊拉克和叙利亚与“伊斯兰国”作战，拥有数十年的实战经验。

这支身经百战、经验丰富的地面部队将为周六开始的美以联合轰炸行动增添至关重要的作战力量。

在2001年的阿富汗战争中，美国也曾使用强大的空中支援掩护地面少数民族武装的行动，以推翻塔利班政权。

库尔德人与美国和北约盟国土耳其关系紧张，这可能会使局势复杂化。

消息人士称：“总统正在与各方对话。他与库尔德领导人对话，也与（土耳其总统雷杰普·塔伊普·）埃尔多安对话。”

上周伊朗库尔德斯坦政治力量联盟的成立也导致了与由伊朗前王储礼萨·巴列维领导的流亡团体之间的紧张关系。

尽管美国决策者认为内塔尼亚胡可能高估了可能拿起武器对抗伊朗的库尔德人数量，但这位官员表示，“这并非无关紧要”。

这位官员说：“他们在战争期间或战后伊朗将扮演什么角色，这超出了我的职权范围。”

President Trump spoke by phone with Kurdish leaders in Iraq on Sunday to discuss the U.S.-Israel war with Iran and what might come next, three sources with knowledge of the calls told Axios.

Why it matters: The Kurds have thousands of soldiers along the Iran-Iraq border and control strategic areas that could be significant as the war develops. Iraq’s Kurds also have close ties to Iran’s Kurdish minority.

Zoom in: Trump spoke to leaders from the two main Kurdish factions in Iraq — Masoud Barzani and Bafel Talabani — a day after the Saturday bombing campaign began, two of the sources said.

A source with knowledge of the calls said they were “sensitive” and declined to give details on their content.

The calls were the culmination of months of behind-the-scenes lobbying by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, another source said. Israel has had close security, military and intelligence ties with the Kurds in Syria, Iraq and Iran for decades.

“It is the general view, and certainly Netanyahu’s view, that the Kurds are going to come out of the woodwork … that they’re going to rise up,” one official said.

Inside the room:Netanyahu, who “has been relentless” in urging strikes on and regime change in Iran, first advocated for the Kurds in a White House meeting with Trump.

“When he first came over and sat with Trump for hours, you would have thought Netanyahu had it all figured out,” the official said.

“He had the successor planned out. He had the Kurds all figured out: Two sets of Kurdish groups here and there. This many people are going to rise up,” the official added.

What they’re saying: Asked specifically about Trump’s calls with the Kurds, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to discuss specifics.

“President Trump has been in contact with many allies and partners in the region throughout the past several days,” she told Axios.

Driving the news:On Sunday, the Kurdistan Freedom Party — a Kurdish-Iranian opposition group based in the Kurdistan region of Iraq — accused Iran of a punishing campaign of missile and drone strikes.

Six days before the war began, five dissident Kurdish groups sheltering in Iraq announced the formation of the Coalition of Political Forces of Iranian Kurdistan to fight Iran.

Zoom out: “The Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Iraq and one of the largest in Iran, and are often described as the largest ethnic group in the world without their own country. Their ancestral lands span southeastern Turkey, northern Syria, northern Iraq and northwestern Iran.

Kurds govern an autonomous region of northern Iraq that was made possible by the 2003 U.S. invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.

Kurdish fighters called “peshmerga” — which means “those who face death” — have decades of combat experience from fighting in Iraq and against ISIS in Syria.

The big picture: A group of battle-hardened, boots-on-the-ground fighters would add a crucial war-fighting dimension to the U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign that began Saturday.

In the 2001 Afghanistan War, the U.S. similarly used heavy air support to cover the maneuvers of ethnic minority fighters on the ground to help topple the Taliban regime.

Friction points: The Kurds have a hostile relationship with Turkey, a U.S. and NATO ally, which could be a complication.

“The president is talking to everyone. He’s talking to the Kurdish leaders. He’s talked to [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan,” the source said.

The announcement last week of the Coalition of Political Forces of Iranian Kurdistan also led to tensions with an exile group led by the former crown prince of Iran, Reza Pahlavi.

What’s next:While U.S. policy-makers believe Netanyahu might have overestimated the number of Kurds who might take up arms against Iran, “it’s not nothing,” the official said.

“What their role would be in either the war or post-war Iran, is above my paygrade,” the official said.