The Quds Force is Iran’s elite special force — somewhat like the Navy SEALs in the U.S. While secretive, they are known to support Iranian proxies such as Shiite militias in Syria and Iraq and Hezbollah in Lebanon. They’re headed by Gen. Qasem Soleimani, a name Trump doesn’t seem to recognize.
The Kurds are an ethnic group found in Iran, Iraq, Syria and, most prominently, Turkey. Although a Turkey-based group called the Kurdistan Worker’s Party is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S., the People’s Protection Units in Syria have cooperated with the U.S. in operations against ISIS. Ostensibly, Trump misheard Hewitt during the interview and thought he said Kurds, not Quds.
The U.S. has been fairly effective in assisting the Kurds in both Iraq and Syria, though it’s been reluctant to bypass the Iraqi government in Baghdad to directly arm Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in Iraq.