In early April 2026, a rumor spread online that U.S. President Donald Trump told Fox News the United States sent guns to Iranian protesters via Kurdish groups, but that he believed those groups kept the guns for themselves.
The claim circulated on platforms such as Reddit, X and Facebook.
Fox News did, in fact, report that Trump said the United States sent guns to Iranian protesters through Kurdish groups. Trey Yingst, the cable network's chief foreign correspondent, said Trump told him about the supposed transaction in an April 5 phone call.
Yingst — who has worked for conservative outlets but is known for striving toward unbiased journalism — did not share a recording of the phone call and did not immediately respond to a request for a recording. Still, his reporting does not conflict with other claims Trump has legitimately made.
For example, on April 6 the president claimed the United States previously attempted to arm Iranian anti-regime protesters but the "people that they sent [the guns] to kept them." In that interview, however, the president did not specify whether the United States gave the weapons to Kurdish groups first.
Though it's likely that Yingst's reporting is accurate,
If Yingst correctly reported on Trump's comments and Trump's claims are accurate, it could lend credence to Iran's reported claims that the United States instigated violence among Iranian dissenters amid the Iranian government's deadly crackdown on protesters.
Multiple Kurdish groups that oppose Iran reportedly denied receiving any weapons from the United States.
"Those statements made are baseless and we haven't received any weapons," said Mohammed Nazif Qaderi, a senior official from the opposition Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran, according to a report from Rudaw, a broadcaster in Iraq's Kurdistan region. "The weapons we have are from 47 years ago, and we obtained them on the Islamic Republic's battlefield, and we bought some from the market."
Here's what we know:
Fox News report
In an April 5 appearance on the talk show "Fox and Friends," Yingst said he spoke to the president for 15 minutes and that he offered "some new details on the negotiations behind the scenes with the Iranians."
Yingst shared a clip of the segment on X, which included his statements about what Trump reportedly said:
President Trump told me the United States sent guns to the Iranian protesters. He tells me we sent them a lot of guns, we sent them to the Kurds, and the president says he thinks the Kurds kept them. He went on to say, we sent guns to the protesters. A lot of them.
Yingst's X post (archived) also attributed a direct quote to Trump that said: "We sent guns to the protesters, a lot of them. And I think the Kurds took the guns."
Yingst later reported that some Kurdish factions denied receiving any weapons, corroborating Rudaw's reporting.
Trump: 'We sent guns, a lot of guns'
Following Yingst's report, Trump referenced sending guns to Iranian protesters again during a conversation with a reporter at the White House Easter Egg Roll on April 6.
He said the United States tried to send guns to Iranian dissidents via a "certain group of people" who he said would "pay a big price" for supposedly keeping the guns, he did not name that group.
ABC News published a full video of Trump answering reporters' questions during the Easter event; the relevant portion of the conversation begins at 26:45 (emphasis ours):
REPORTER: How is it taking care of the Iranian people if you're bombing them?
TRUMP: Yeah, who you with? Who you with?
REPORTER:
PBS . TRUMP: Well, that's a radical left group of lunatics that you're with. Let me just tell you, let me just tell you. Very fair question.
The Iranian people, when they don't hear bombs go off, they're upset. They want to hear bombs because they want to be free. And the only reason they're not out protesting, you know that, is because they were informed that if they protest, like the wrestler and his friends, if they protest, they will be shot immediately. And that's an edict. That's in writing.
If they protest, if they go out in the streets, they will be immediately shot. They don't have guns.
You know, we sent some guns, but the group that was supposed to give — which I said would happen to my people, I said it. I called it exactly. We sent guns, a lot of guns. They were supposed to go to the people so they could fight back against these thugs.
You know what happened? The people that they sent them to kept them because they said, "What a beautiful gun. I think I'll keep it."
So, I'm very upset with a certain group of people and they're going to pay a big price for that.
But the Iranian people will fight back as soon as they know they're not going to be shot and as soon as they can get weapons.