US plans to cut off military aid to key Middle East ally, BBC told

The Trump administration is planning to cut off military aid to a key Middle East ally that helped the US defeat the Islamic State group (IS) and is now facing punishing attacks from Iran, according to four sources familiar with the matter.

The US Department of Defense has told leaders of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region in recent meetings that the administration is not planning to renew an expiring agreement that provides security assistance to the Peshmerga, the Kurdish security force.

The BBC spoke to two officials who participated in the talks and two other sources with direct knowledge of the issue. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the talks, details of which have not been previously reported.

Kurdish officials fear the funding cut would create a power vacuum and embolden Iran, which has fired hundreds of missiles and drones into Iraqi Kurdistan since US President Donald Trump started the war with Tehran.

Ending the Peshmerga's security assistance would undermine a longtime partner in Iraq, analysts said, and send the message that the US cannot be trusted to back its allies in the region.

"The US would be cutting off the Kurds, who shed so much blood to help the Americans achieve their goals in Iraq and the wider Middle East," Yerevan Saeed, the director of the Global Kurdish Initiative for Peace at American University, said.

"This is going to be a big win for Iran, China, and Russia if the Kurds are left so exposed."

In his second term, Trump has pledged to reduce America's foreign entanglements in regions like the Middle East. He also launched the war with Iran, which reached the six-month mark on Friday with no end in sight.