Trump team used Kurdish leader to reach IRGC in Iran talks: report

The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has reportedly signaled through a secret backchannel that the group supports the Tehran regime in its negotiations with the US for a ceasefire deal via a secret backchannel between the IRGC and Trump administration, according to Axios reports.

Reports further showed that US officials feared key talks with Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi and Parliament Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf were already losing strength due to resistance from the URGC which is considered the most powerful faction behind Iran’s leadership.

Notably in May, the director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard connected with Nechirvan Barzani who has close ties to the IRGC made a crucial attempt to find out the position of its leader Gen.Ahmad Vahidi.

Barzani arranged a phone call with Vahidi who confirmed that the IRGC supported Araghchi and Ghalibaf: “I fully support and this is also the position of the IRGC. We prefer to solve this crisis through negotiations."

Furthermore, the Trump administration sought to expand Barzani's prime role by having him facilitate direct negotiations between the US and Iran in Erbil, Iraq but the Iranians refused fearing their representatives would be targeted by Israel which was believed to have a heavy surveillance presence in Kurdistan according to the report.