Arming a Kurdish insurgency would be a risky endeavor – for both the US and Iran’s minority Kurds

The Kurdish flag is hoisted during a demonstration in Erbil, northern Iraq, on Jan. 21, 2018. Osama Al Maqdoni/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

With the Iranian regime weakened by relentless American and Israeli missiles, Washington is eyeing a familiar U.S. ally in the Middle East to help push the Islamic Republic over the edge: the Kurds.

Making up between 8% to 17% of the country’s total population, Iran’s Kurdish minority has long been persecuted under the Islamic Republic.