Tag: iran

Mike Pompeo Says the Quiet Part Out Loud About ‘Popular’ Regime Change in Iran

Former Secretary of State and Director of the CIA Mike Pompeo is one of the most bloodthirsty and prominent neocons in the United States today. He is militantly pro-Israel and has openly and consistently pushed for regime change in Iran. In the first Trump administration, he was one of Trump’s most hawkish advisors. As one of the main advocates for the assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, Pompeo clearly is not bothered by military action which is illegal under international law. However, one factor which differentiates Pompeo from his neocon cronies is his blunt, nigh-idiotic honesty.

While Washington has orchestrated numerous coups around the globe, few prominent officials have been so bold or careless as to acknowledge that the United States or Israel is helping foment a revolution in real time. However, Pompeo did just that when he tweeted, “The Iranian regime is in trouble… Riots in dozens of cities and the Basij under siege – Mashed, Tehran, Zahedan.  Next stop:  Baluchistan… Happy New Year to every Iranian in the streets.  Also to every Mossad agent walking beside them…”

Pompeo’s remarks are important because of what it casually assumes: Israel is intimately involved in the current protests in Iran. This undermines the US and Israeli governments’ narrative that the protests are an organic development. Contrary to neoconservative narratives, the fact that every protester is not literally on a State Department payroll does not make the protests organic. While some, if not most, of the protesters might genuinely oppose the government, the fact remains that funding, intel, media amplification, training, and sanctions have all been used as tools to influence political outcomes inside Iran to the benefit of Washington and Tel Aviv.

The biggest historical example of this is the 1953 coup against Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh. After Mohammad Reza Shah was installed by the Iranian military on behalf of the US and UK, the CIA hired mobsters to stage riots in favor of the Shah. On top of this, the CIA also paid for buses and trucks full of demonstrators to protest in Tehran. Following the Iranian Revolution, the US trained members of the leftist Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) who previously killed American soldiers. With the rise of the internet, the US government provided funding for online activism targeting the Iranian government, asked Twitter to delay site-maintenance to help 2009 Green Movement protesters communicate, and carried out cyberattacks in collaboration with Israel. In short, for decades the US has tried to destabilize Iran to foster regime change. Pompeo’s remark suggests that this long-standing policy has not changed under the nominally “anti-war” second Trump administration.

Like the Obama administration, the second Trump administration is following the “Arab Spring playbook.” The Arab Spring was a series of protests, insurrections, and rebellions across the Arab world which sought to “promote democracy.” In reality, many of the figures and groups involved in the Arab Spring received not only training, but also funding from American NGOs like the International Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute, and Freedom House. These organizations all receive money from the US government via Congress or the State Department. Most of the aims of the Arab Spring failed. Instead of democracy, the protests led to an authoritarian backlash from Arab governments. This “counter-revolution” was beneficial for Israel as the failure of the Arab Spring made normalizing relations with destabilized, divided Arab regimes easier.

Ultimately, the main beneficiaries of regime change are not the United States or its people, but instead Israel. Unfortunately, so many figures in the American government, like Mike Pompeo, have a theology which places support for the secular State of Israel in high regard. In fact, Pompeo once suggested that God sent President Donald Trump to save Israel.

To put it frankly, there is nothing godly about Israel, especially with regard to its conduct in its proxy war against Iran. A godly nation would not have its intelligence agency pose as the CIA in an attempt to recruit terrorists for a false flag operation against Iran. The terrorist group in question, Jundallah, has been responsible for murdering both Iranian government officials and civilians.

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The CIA/Mossad Operation to Spark a Color Revolution in Iran has Failed

The CIA/Mossad plan to spark a color revolution in Iran, which has attracted global attention and a tsunami of propaganda pieces portraying the Iranian protests as a massive, unstoppable popular movement, has failed. Yes, protests continue in some parts of the country, but Iranian security forces have taken off the gloves and are fighting back. Casualty estimates are all over the board… Ranging from hundreds to thousands dead. Iranian officials have announced that the alleged ring leaders of the violent protests will be publicly executed starting Wednesday.

While Trump is now promising to try to come to the aid of the protestors, his promise appears to be more rhetorical than substantive. According to a report by the Jerusalem Post:

US President Donald Trump is expected to assist Iranians who are protesting nationwide against the Islamic Republic regime, several sources familiar with the details of the discussions held in recent days told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.

“Trump has essentially decided to help the protesters in Iran. What he has not yet decided is the ‘how’ and the ‘when,’” they said. . . .

“The spectrum ranges from a military option, namely strikes against regime targets, to cyber support against the regime, to providing Starlink systems to help protesters,” one source told the Post.

“While the Trump administration does not believe that the Iranian regime is collapsing, it definitely sees problems and cracks that did not exist a week ago,” the source added.

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Trump Says He Will Speak to Musk About Restoring Internet Access in Iran​

President Donald Trump said on Jan. 11 he was planning to speak with tech billionaire Elon Musk about restoring internet access in Iran after the regime blocked online services amid protests.

“As you know, he’s very good at that kind of thing. He’s got a very good company. So we may speak to Elon Musk, and heck, I’m going to call him as soon as I’m finished with you,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

Musk’s SpaceX company offers the Starlink service, which allows users access to the internet without any wired connection via a constellation of satellites surrounding Earth.

The flow of information from Iran has been hampered by an internet blackout since Jan. 8.

Neither Musk, who also owns social media platform X and electric car company Tesla, nor Starlink has yet commented publicly on Trump’s statement about the use of the technology in Iran.

The Epoch Times contacted SpaceX for comment but received no comment by publication time.

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New reports indicate that the US is considering “some intervention” in the ongoing Iran protests

Over the past several weeks, political dynamics in the Middle East and beyond have taken a dramatic turn, raising the possibility that the United States may move from diplomatic pressure to more direct involvement in Iran.

Reporting from The Jerusalem Post indicates that U.S. policymakers are now actively weighing forms of intervention aimed at supporting the growing protest movement inside the Islamic Republic — a development that reflects a notable shift in strategic thinking in both Washington and Jerusalem.

According to the report, this reassessment is closely linked to recent U.S. action in Venezuela. The sudden removal of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro reportedly forced Israeli and American officials to reconsider long-held assumptions about what might be achievable in Iran.

“Until the intervention by U.S. President Donald Trump in Caracas, most Israeli officials did not view the protests against Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as necessarily approaching the volume necessary to achieve regime change,” the article states.

It further notes that the protests were largely seen by both Israel and the United States as “insufficient to topple Khamenei” without external assistance (The Jerusalem Post).

The success of the U.S. operation in Venezuela appears to have altered that outlook. Sources cited in the report suggest that American officials are exploring limited, targeted options designed to strengthen Iranian protestors rather than engage in a full-scale military invasion.

At the same time, Israeli officials are reportedly analyzing whether the precedent set by Venezuela could justify increased coordinated pressure against Tehran.

Intelligence operations have also taken center stage in this evolving situation.

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The Trump Effect: One Day After Maduro Capture, Reports Say Iran’s Supreme Leader Preparing to Flee Country to Moscow

Call it the Trump Effect. Or the Maduro Effect, if you don’t like naming it after Orange Man Bad.

The point is, if a report in Sunday’s Times of London is to be believed, it’s very real — and it could mean regime change is coming to Iran the same way it came to Venezuela.

Just one day after the daring capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro in an early-morning raid, the Times quoted intelligence sources which said that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the 86-year-old supreme leader of Iran’s theocratic regime, had formulated a back-up plan to get out of Dodge (or Tehran, in this case) if the protests against his regime, which began in late December, intensified.

Mass uprisings in Iran have been nothing new, especially under Khamenei. In 1999, 2009, 2017, 2019, and 2022, Khamenei’s government has faced massive popular opposition; it’s as regular as the swallows returning to San Juan Capistrano, almost, only if the swallows were forced to wear the niqab and were gunned down by the IRGC if they did not disperse.

This spate of protests is fueled by the same reasons past protests have broken out, as well: economic collapse and political repression. But, for several reasons, things could be different.

First, the country’s paper tiger status was fully confirmed with the 12-Day War, in which Israeli and U.S. forces were able to operate without even the slightest resistance inside Iran’s airspace, crippling the country’s military and nuclear facilities.

Second, Trump has taken an active interest in the protests, saying on Truth Social that “[i]f Iran [shoots] and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue.”

Third — well, you probably know by now.

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Iranians launch counterprotests in rejection of US-backed destabilization attempts

Thousands of Iranians have come out into the streets for counterprotests rejecting foreign interference, violence against security forces, and vandalism of public property. 

Footage on social media showed scores of citizens carrying Iranian flags and chanting “Death to America” in Hamedan province, where a police officer was assaulted by rioters the night before.

Counter-protesters also took to the streets of Iran’s Fars province. 

Citizens chanted slogans condemning “the acts of sabotage carried out by some elements in the country, taking advantage of the peaceful protests,” while rejecting “any form of violence or sabotage, and their commitment to legal and peaceful channels of expression for legitimate demands,” according to Al Mayadeen. 

They also denounced Israeli and US “interference” in internal Iranian affairs.

So far, at least seven people have been killed during the anti-government protests and riots, including at least two members of the security forces. Over a dozen have been injured.

The protests began peacefully on Sunday after Iran’s currency collapse, when shopkeepers in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar went on strike as the rial hit a record low against the dollar. The demonstration then began spreading to other cities. 

Some of the protests have since turned violent, with rioters setting fires, carrying weapons, and attacking security forces.

The unrest is currently ongoing in several provinces, including Tehran, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, Isfahan, and Lorestan.

These are the largest riots and protests since the unrest that was sparked after the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022. At the time, foreign-backed armed elements carried out violent and deadly attacks against security forces.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has announced plans to reform Iran’s subsidy system by redirecting state support from producers and importers to regular citizens.

He also vowed to crack down on bribery and rent-seeking.

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US and Israel Prepping for a New Attack on Iran by Creating a Narrative of Government Chaos

Was it just a coincidence that as Donald Trump met last Monday with Israel’s Bibi Netanyahu to discuss a future attack against Iran that protests, some accompanied by violence, broke out in several cities in Iran? I am not a believer in coincidence. Following that meeting, the US news media — both print and electronic — was flooded with stories painting the protests as a mighty uprising of the Iranian people. A new revolution has begun… or so the Western public is being told.

One of the major purveyors of this narrative is the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which is an Iranian exile-based political opposition coalition founded in 1981 in Tehran (later relocated to Paris, France, with activities in Albania). It positions itself as a parliament-in-exile and the primary democratic alternative to the Islamic Republic regime. The NCRI advocates for overthrowing the current government and establishing a secular, democratic, pluralistic, and non-nuclear republic in Iran, emphasizing separation of religion and state, gender equality, human rights, and minority rights. And guess what? The NCRI is the creature of a group the US once labeled as a terrorist organization.

The NCRI as a tightly controlled front for the PMOI/MEK, with limited broad support inside Iran. The PMOI was formerly designated a terrorist organization by the US (delisted in 2012) and EU, partly due to past armed actions. The group has been accused of cult-like practices and authoritarian internal structure, though supporters reject these claims and emphasize its democratic platform.

The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), also known as Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) or Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), is an Iranian opposition group founded in 1965 with a long history of terrorism in Iran. It is the principal component of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which it describes as its political wing. The People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) has a documented history of violent activities, primarily from the 1970s to the early 2000s, which led to its designation as a terrorist organization by the United States (1997–2012), the European Union (until 2009), and others.

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Ex-CIA Analyst: Neocons Prematurely Celebrate Over Protests In Iran

Western media, especially those outlets firmly aligned with the neoconservative view, are quick to jump on reports of protests in Iran as a sign that the Islamic Republic of Iran is about to implode. Events today in Iran provided another spurt of arousal among neocons longing to bring back the Shah and eliminate the mullahs.

Here’s a summary of the various news reports:

On December 30, 2025, protests in Iran entered their third day, spreading from initial economic grievances in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar to universities and multiple cities across the country. Triggered by the Iranian rial plunging to record lows (around 1.38–1.42 million to the USD) and inflation hitting 42.2–42.5%, demonstrations began with shopkeepers and merchants striking and closing businesses, evolving into broader anti-government chants.

Protests expanded beyond Tehran to cities including Isfahan, Shiraz, Mashhad, Hamadan, Karaj, Qeshm, Malard, Kermanshah, and Yazd. University students joined on Tuesday, chanting slogans like “Death to the dictator” (referring to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei), calls for freedom, and pro-monarchy references (e.g., “Long live the Shah” or “Rest in peace Reza Shah”).

President Masoud Pezeshkian acknowledged “legitimate demands,” instructed the interior ministry to dialogue with protest representatives, and pledged economic reforms. The central bank governor resigned, replaced by Abdolnasser Hemmati. Officials offered talks but warned against escalation or foreign exploitation.

Hmmm… What’s really going on? Turns out that Nima Alkorshid, the host of Dialogue Works, is on an extended family vacation in Tehran. It has been 12 years since he was last in Iran. I know one thing for certain… His mom is thrilled to have her son, his wife and her grandchildren in Tehran. Anyway, I called Nima and asked him what he was seeing.

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Anti-Islamic uprising in Iran continues: “This is the year of blood. Khamenei will be toppled.”

Starting on Sunday, there have been widespread anti-regime protests in Iranian cities, including Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz, Mashhad and Zahedan, primarily driven by economic distress, including the Iranian rial’s collapse to a record low of approximately 1.4 million to the dollar.

The protests, which began as economic demonstrations by merchants and shopkeepers, escalated into broader political unrest with chants of “Death to the Dictator” Ali Khamenei and pro-monarchist slogans calling for the return of the Shah.

Security forces, including the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, responded with tear gas, rubber bullets, and batons, while the government declared a state of emergency and vowed “total war” against the United States, Europe and Israel. 

There is no credible evidence of foreign military or organised group control over Iranian cities.

The central bank governor, Mohammad Reza Farzin, resigned amid the crisis.

The situation remains fluid, with protests continuing into 31 December with crowds chanting “This is the year of blood. Khamenei will be toppled.”

On Monday, independent news channel Tousi TV reported that anti-Islamic Iranians have taken control of Iranian cities.

“The revolution is still ongoing against the Islamic occupiers and the regime forces have retreated. Multiple cities and towns have now fallen into the hands of the anti-Islamic Iranians, and at the same time, resignations inside the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] have now started,” Mahyar Tousi said jubilantly while waving the Iranian flag.

His news cast includes videos of the popular uprising from Tehran, Karaj and other cities around the country.

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Trump Says He’ll Support an Israeli Attack on Iran If Tehran ‘Continues’ Its Missile Program

President Trump said on Monday that he would support an Israeli attack on Iran if Tehran “continues” its conventional missile program or if it works to rebuild its civilian nuclear program that was damaged by US airstrikes during the US-Israeli war on the Islamic Republic in June.

The president made the comments at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida before a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, when asked if he would back more Israeli attacks on Iran. “If they continue with the missiles, yes. The nuclear, fast,” he said.

“One will be yes, absolutely,” he added, appearing to reference Iran’s missiles. “The other was we’ll do it immediately,” he said, referencing the possibility of Iran rebuilding its nuclear program. The president also threatened to “knock the hell” out of Iran if it “builds up again.”

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