Trump Used Kurdish Leader as Secret Backchannel to Iran's IRGC

The White House secretly enlisted Kurdistan Regional Government President Nechirvan Barzani to relay questions to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps during peace negotiations in May, according to a report by Axios cited by the Jerusalem Post.

Sources familiar with the matter told Axios that the White House specifically asked Barzani — president of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region — whether the IRGC had any additional demands as talks progressed. The disclosure reveals an informal diplomatic layer running alongside whatever formal channels existed between Washington and Tehran, two governments with no direct diplomatic relations.

The Kurdish Regional Government occupies a strategically sensitive position between the two powers. Erbil maintains working ties with Washington and manages an economic and security relationship with Tehran, which holds significant influence over northern Iraq. That dual positioning made Barzani a credible quiet conduit — one neither side would need to publicly acknowledge.

Whether the IRGC relayed any demands through Barzani, and whether those conditions influenced the May talks, was not reported. The scope and outcome of his role remain unclear.

A Crowded Diplomatic Map

The Kurdish back-channel revelation arrives alongside a range of other active diplomatic tracks across the region.

Iran and Oman are in active discussions over a temporary alternative shipping arrangement for the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi confirmed Sunday, according to Middle East Eye. The talks with Muscat come after President Trump threatened to claim the strait — through which roughly 20 percent of global oil supply transits. An Omani-brokered routing arrangement, if reached, would give both Iran and international shipping interests a workable off-ramp from a direct confrontation over access.

Separately, senior Trump envoy Jared Kushner arrived in Egypt on Sunday for talks aimed at advancing the administration’s Gaza framework. According to the Times of Israel, Hamas officials participated in discussions alongside Egyptian, Turkish, and Qatari mediators. Kushner met separately with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, while Hamas’s political leadership held discussions with Egypt’s intelligence chief. Israeli strikes in Gaza continued during the talks.

The breadth of simultaneous channels — Kurdish interlocutors probing the IRGC in May, Omani diplomats negotiating Hormuz arrangements in August, and a Gaza deal taking shape in Cairo — reflects the complexity of the environment the Trump administration is navigating. Each channel carries distinct leverage and distinct constraints.

Why the IRGC Specifically

The White House’s decision to probe IRGC demands directly, rather than routing the question solely through Iran’s foreign ministry, signals an awareness in Washington that the corps and the Iranian government do not always speak with a single voice. The IRGC controls significant levers of Iranian foreign and security policy, particularly regarding Iraq, where it maintains substantial operational presence. Any durable arrangement with Washington over Iran’s nuclear or regional posture would require IRGC buy-in — or at minimum its acquiescence — that a foreign ministry signature alone might not guarantee.

Barzani, now serving as KRG president after earlier terms as prime minister, has cultivated relationships across the region’s competing power centers over decades. His government has received sustained U.S. military and diplomatic engagement while simultaneously managing an economic relationship with Tehran that includes Iranian natural gas imports essential to the Kurdish region’s grid. That positioning gave him credibility as a messenger neither side could easily dismiss.

Markets Price In Resolution

Despite reports that formal Iran talks remained stalled, most Gulf stock markets closed higher Sunday, according to Reuters. The gains came despite ongoing Hormuz shipping disruption. Regional equity markets are acutely sensitive to strait-closure scenarios; Sunday’s modest rally suggests investors are pricing in a negotiated arrangement rather than a sustained closure.

What to Watch

The Kurdish back-channel story raises questions that will likely take time to answer: Did the IRGC respond through Barzani, and if so, what did it ask for? Did those demands shape the May talks? And is that channel still open?

The Axios report, surfacing now rather than in May, may itself be a signal — either of talks breaking down and sources feeling free to speak, or of deliberate disclosure to shape current negotiations. The timing, as Hormuz route talks proceed through Oman and Gaza negotiations move through Cairo, suggests the diplomatic calendar remains dense.

The Trump administration has deployed multiple envoys and informal intermediaries across the region simultaneously. That approach has precedent, but it also creates coordination risk if messages or conditions conveyed through different channels diverge or contradict each other.

For more on the geopolitical and economic stakes of the Iran standoff, see our reporting on the Vance cheap-oil doctrine, China’s role in circumventing Iran sanctions, and the escalating Israeli campaign in Lebanon.