Parti Azadi Kurdistan Archives

Iran | MEMRI Daily Brief No. 794

If the world, especially the U.S. and Israel, wants real change in Iran, they need to stop relying on old exiled politicians and start supporting the people who are already resisting the regime on the ground: Iran’s ethnic minorities or, better yet, the non-Persian ethnic groups.

Who Are These Minorities/Non-Persian Ethnic Groups?

Iran is not just Persians. It is made up of many other peoples, including Kurds in the west, Baloch in the southeast, Ahwazi Arabs in the south, Azeris in the northwest, and Turkmen in the northeast.

These groups make up 50 percent of Iran’s population and have been oppressed for decades, having no rights to speak their language, no political power, and often being targeted with violence by the regime.

Why They Matter

They have suffered the most under the regime, so they are the most motivated to fight back.

They live in the border regions, which makes it easier for them to connect with neighboring countries and resist Tehran’s control.

They trust neither the Shah nor the Islamic Republic – they have been betrayed by both in the past.

What Is Not Working

The West keeps listening to Persian elites in exile – especially monarchists like Reza Pahlavi, the Shah’s son. But these people have zero power inside Iran and no support from minorities, who remember how badly the Shah treated them.

Whenever movements like Jin, Jiyan, Azadî (“Woman, Life, Freedom”), which started from the Kurdish community, rise up, the moment someone tries to turn it into a pro-Shah campaign, people leave the streets. They have seen this trick before.

What Should Be Done?

Support real grassroots movements especially those led by Kurds, Baloch, Arabs, and others.

Give them security guarantees – because last time they trusted outside powers or the Shah, they were betrayed and slaughtered.

Push for federalism or local autonomy, not another centralized Persian dictatorship.

The Bottom Line

If you want real regime change in Iran, stop pretending the exiled elite will save the country. The real opposition is already inside Iran and it is the minorities. Support them, and you support freedom. Ignore them, and you are just repeating history.

They should suffocate the regime, not support it by the controlled opposition of the shah.

AUTHOR

PEL BERWARI

Pel Berwari is a Kurdish activist based in Kurdistan.

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Iran | Special Dispatch No. 12023

Gen. Hussein Yazdanpana is the leader of the Parti Azadi Kurdistan (“Kurdistan Freedom Party,” PAK), one of the major militant groups from Eastern Kurdistan (Rojhelat, the Kurdistan region under Iran’s rule).[1]

As soon as Israel’s pre-emptive strike against Iran started, known as Operation Rising Lion, Gen. Hussein Yazdanpana called on the youth of Kurdistan, both inside and outside Iran, to attack the Islamic Republic of Iran.

(See MEMRI Clip N. 12073, Hussein Yazdanpanah, Leader of Youth to Attack Iranian Regime Targets, Avenge “Kurdistan’s Martyrs,” June 15, 2025)

Following are some of Gen. Hussein Yazdanpana’s tweets from June 13, 2025:[2]

Yazdanpana: The Time For Uprising And Overthrow Of The Regime Has Come

Yazdanpana tweeted: “[Israel’s Operation Rising Lion] has ushered in a historic moment. Tehran, confronted by a vastly superior power, stands disgraced and politically exposed.”

He wrote: “We firmly support Israel’s Operation Rising Lion against the Islamic Republic. The destruction of Iran’s military infrastructure and war machine will pave the way for the liberation of the people and bring an end to the regime’s aggressive and terrorist activities in the region and across the world.”

“Iran’s military infrastructure will never be rebuilt. The regime’s repressive forces have collapsed. The time has come to seize military bases and government centers, ” he tweeted.

“[The Iranian Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei is lying! Residential areas have not been attacked [by Israel]. What has been attacked are military sites and the hideouts of the commanders of the terrorist IRGC,” he said.

“It is time for the armed groups to turn their weapons against the criminal commanders [of the IRGC],” he wrote.

He tweeted: “The time for uprising and overthrow of the regime has come. The regime’s machine of repression has been completely broken.”

SOURCES:

[1] See MEMRI Daily Brief No. 468, Hussein Yazdanpana – The Kurdish Leader Calling For The Toppling Of The Islamic Republic Of Iran, March 16, 2023.

[2] X.com/HusenYazdanpana

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PEL BERWARI