Trump urges Iranian Kurds to attack Iran as war widens Today World News

U.S. President Donald Trump encouraged Iranian Kurdish forces in ​Iraq to launch attacks against Iran as conflict in West Asia widened, with Azerbaijan warning it would retaliate for being targeted by Iranian missiles.

Also read: Israel-Iran war updates on March 6, 2026

Israel on Friday (March 6, 2026) said ‌it had started a “broad-scale” wave of attacks against infrastructure targets in Tehran, as Gulf cities came under renewed bombardment ​by Iran.

The seven-day war has now seen Iran target Israel, the Gulf states, Cyprus, Turkey and Azerbaijan and spread ⁠to the Indian Ocean off Sri Lanka, where a U.S. submarine sank an Iranian naval ship.

On the possibility of the Iranian Kurdish forces entering Iran, Mr. Trump told Reuters on Thursday (March 5, 2026), “I think it’s wonderful that they want to do that; I’d be all for it.”

Two Iranian drone attacks targeted an Iranian opposition camp in Iraqi ‌Kurdistan on Thursday (March 5, 2026), security sources said.

Iranian Kurdish militias have consulted with the United States in recent days about whether, and how, to attack Iran’s security forces in the western part of the country, according to three sources with knowledge of ‌the matter.

The Iranian Kurdish coalition of groups based on the Iran-Iraq border in the semi-autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan has been training ‌to ⁠mount such an attack in hopes of weakening the country’s military, as the United States and Israel pound Iranian targets ⁠with bombs and missiles. Mr. Trump, speaking with Reuters in a telephone interview, also said the United States must have a role in deciding who will be the next leader of Iran after airstrikes killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last week.

“We’re going to have to choose that person along with Iran. We’re going to have to choose that person,” ​he said.

U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Thursday ‌(March 5, 2026) that the U.S. was not expanding its military objectives in Iran, despite what Mr. Trump said about choosing the country’s next leader.

“There’s no expansion in our objectives. We know exactly what we’re trying to achieve,” he said. The attack on Iran is a major political gamble for the Republican President, with opinion polls showing little support and Americans concerned about the rise in gasoline prices caused by disruption to energy supplies. ‌

Mr. Trump dismissed that concern. Shares on Wall Street fell on Thursday (March 5, 2026), weighed down by surging oil prices, as the economic impact of ​the campaign intensified, with countries around the world cut off from a fifth of global supplies of oil and liquefied natural gas and air transport still facing chaos and global logistics increasingly snarled.

Azerbaijan prepares to retaliate

Azerbaijan was preparing ⁠unspecified retaliatory measures on Thursday (March 5, 2026) after it said four Iranian drones crossed its border and injured four people in the Nakhchivan exclave.

“We will not tolerate this unprovoked act of terror and aggression against Azerbaijan,” President Ilham Aliyev told a meeting of his Security Council.

Iran, which has a significant Azeri minority, ‌denied it targeted its neighbour.

Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah militia warned Israeli residents to evacuate towns within 5 km (3 miles) of the border between the countries in a message posted on its Telegram channel in Hebrew early on Friday (March 6, 2026).

“Your military’s aggression against Lebanese sovereignty and safe citizens, the destruction of civilian infrastructure and the expulsion campaign it is carrying out will not go unchallenged,” Hezbollah said.