Trump Says US Sent ‘a Lot’ of Arms to Iranian Protesters

(SeaPRwire) –   Kurdish intermediaries reportedly kept the weapons for themselves instead of helping to facilitate a change of government in Tehran

President Donald Trump told Fox News that the U.S. provided “a significant amount” of arms to Iranian protesters during the January unrest.

The demonstrations, which were initially sparked by economic concerns and marked by violence, were publicly supported at the time by Trump, who cautioned Iranian authorities against suppressing the movement. Tehran described the protests as foreign-led and accused the U.S. and Israel of inciting the unrest, blaming armed agitators for the deadly violence.

In a phone interview on Sunday, Trump informed reporter Trey Yingst that Washington had engaged in a covert operation to arm the protesters. He claimed the effort had little impact because Kurdish middlemen allegedly kept the weapons instead of delivering them.

During the early stages of the Iranian protests, former CIA Director Mike Pompeo—who spearheaded the “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran in Trump’s first term—praised the unrest, sending his regards to the protesters and “every Mossad agent walking beside them.”

In mid-March, the New York Times reported that Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency attempted to “energize the Iranian opposition” during the initial phase of the U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign that started on February 28.

Mossad chief David Barnea reportedly presented a plan for destabilization to the Trump administration in January. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cited the agency’s confidence when making the case for military action to Trump.

However, instead of being toppled by a mass uprising and the targeted killing of Iranian leaders, Tehran consolidated its authority. A Kurdish offensive in Iran, which Trump had also supported, failed to materialize.

The U.S. has a long history of providing weapons to groups that align with its strategic objectives. In the 1980s, the CIA supported jihadist insurgents in Afghanistan fighting Soviet forces. More recently, the Obama administration authorized the Timber Sycamore program in Syria, which was intended to help ‘moderate rebels’ overthrow the government in Damascus but ultimately strengthened radical Islamist groups.