💬 Evaluations

This week we will touch upon the broader context, since nothing happens in a vacuum. As the global events influence the local situations, revolutionary shifts don’t happen without leaving a trace and influence on the people and the world. That is also why we are here, doing what we are doing.

This time we want to talk about events in Iran. Iran is an important actor in the geopolitics of the Middle East. Its influence also had a strong impact on Syria during the Assad rule. Smuggling and other transportation routes were passing through Syria, supplying Hezbollah. After the fall of the Assad regime, Iran was pushed out of Syria and has generally lost its previous power in the region. The damage sustained during the Israeli attacks in June 2025 became another factor that affected the situation of Islamic Republic.

Protests have been regularly flaring up in Iran. The 2022 protests under leading slogan «Woman, Life, Freedom» are famous globally. Just like back then, the protests spread all over the country. People’s discontent spread due to economic factors — inflation, growing prices and poverty, but eventually arrived at calling to take down the regime. Protesters clash with the police in the streets, there are killed and injured.

During Israel-Iran escalation in 2025, an interesting detail to notice were the statements of Netanyahu and Trump on the intentional destabilization of Iran with the goal of regime change. It is a pretty standard approach of the USA towards “inconvenient” governments in the regions of their interests: clearing the path for more co-operative politicians, as it was in Afghanistan. During the most recent escalation of Israel-Iran war there were rumors spreading that there already exists a tentative “democratic” ruling figure, backed and prepared by the USA. Although this information wasn’t confirmed, we can well imagine that it can be true, considering USA methods in other instances (e.g. the recent kidnapping of the Venezuelan president). In this context, Trump’s declared intention to come to the aid of Iranian protesters if Iran will “cruelly kill peaceful demonstrators, as they do,” becomes more understandable.

Iranian Kurdistan, Rojhilat, is one of Iran’s rebellious regions. Their attempts to declare autonomy have not been successful for decades, but the guerrilla struggle in the territory of Iran continues. PJAK (Party of Free Life of Kurdistan) supported the protesters and again condemned the current regime.

Kurdish liberation movement is fighting for freedom not only in Syria or Turkey. News from Rojhilat take the headlines somewhat less frequently, but the situation in Iran is especially hard for the liberation struggle. PJAK forces include a female armed wing, which is especially important in the context if a dictatorship which executes “moral policing” over the population and, as usual, harms the most vulnerable groups, including women.

Instability in Tehran could be a beneficial circumstance for the Kurdish region and could weaken imperialist alliances of the Russia — Iran — China axis. Nevertheless, a puppet government installed by the USA, Israel or whoever else won’t address the Kurdish question in Iran. Furthermore, addressing the Kurdish question in a neoliberal imperialist framework can’t be a true solution for a multi-ethnic and multi-religious Middle East. Democratic confederalism, already being implemented in NES by PYD and advocated by PJAK in Rojhilat, offers a much more promising option to bring peace.