Hoping that the United States is serious about directly confronting the Islamic Republic, Iranian Kurdish opposition groups are maneuvering to become an essential part of a new White House policy of weakening and ultimately overthrowing the government in Tehran.
Mustafa Hijri, the head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), visited Washington June 11-17 to discuss the situation in Iran with State Department officials, congressmen and think tank experts. While it is not uncommon for Iranian opposition figures to meet with US officials and speak at forums in Washington, the sheer number of meetings at various think tanks signals renewed US interest with Kurdish rebel groups that are fighting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the mountains of the Kurdish region in western Iran.
