Author: M Barbu

Introduction

Iran’s mullahs’ regime may be toppled and replaced with a secular setup, but the repression in the country won’t end if minorities in Iran are not given their rights. The people of Balochistan are demanding not just regime change but independence. The solution to Balochistan’s problems is to break the chains of slavery for which its people have paid enormous sacrifices over decades. This position is shared by the people of Kurdistan and Ahwaz as well. For these reasons, it is the minorities in Iran that are most committed to the uprising against the Islamic Republic and they who are suffering the harshest consequences from the regime’s crackdown.

On November 29, 2022, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei met with Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shia’ Al-Sudani, who was on his first visit to Tehran since assuming office. Al-Sudani was elected on October 27, 2022 by the pro-Iranian majority in the Iraqi parliament. In their meeting Khamenei instructed him on how to promote Iran’s interests, and warned, for the first time, that if Baghdad fails to impose its authority in Kurdistan – which, according to Tehran, is a source of terror against Iran, especially in the form of encouraging civil protests by Kurds within Iran – Iranian forces will “defend Iraq.” Khamenei added that ” Iraq’s security is Iran’s security, just as Iran’s security affects Iraq’s. He also called on Al-Sudani to “make maximum use of young and motivated Iraqi forces,” namely the Shi’ite militias established by Iran in Iraq, apparently as a counterweight to the public influence of Muqtada Al-Sadr, who has declared his opposition to the Iranian order promoted by Tehran in Iraq.