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Inside Iran’s protests: ‘Either we overthrow the regime, or we are destroyed. We have nothing left to lose.’
(www.independent.co.uk)
this post was submitted on 17 Jan 2026
408 points (97.4% liked)
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Yeah sure... I suppose you have proof of that? Or did you just follow a script/prompt?
I guess Mike Pompeo tweeting about it on X was just a conspiracy theory.
A screenshot can't be called a proof in this age. Give an archived link from a trustworthy source. Beside, I don't see any date on that screenshot, which is usually seen on tweets, which may mean it was either doctered (well, it was, at least to add the red line), or straight false.
But let's consider this as valid for a second. Israel and Iran are enemies, of course they have intelligence officers in their enemy population. That's intelligence 101. The same is true the other way, there are probably multiple Iranian cells in Israel, the US, and most NATO countries. But to dismiss any unrest on that given fact is absurd. Sure Israel will capitalise on that because it is in their interest to see a change of regime in Iran, but they can't trigger such uprising from just intelligence cells, or you'd see such protest about everywhere in the world.
The CIA also overthrew their President in 1953.
https://www.npr.org/2019/01/31/690363402/how-the-cia-overthrew-irans-democracy-in-four-days
Its a bit rich that you want hard evidence but will mindlessly believe what mainstream media says about Iran when the MSM has been gaslighting us on the genocide in Gaza, the Al Qaeda takeover of Syria and the kidnapping of the President of Venezuela.
Classic CIA I'd say. Wasn't the first time. Probably won't be the last (unfortunately).
The kidnapping is a fact, and I personally condemn that act. On the other hand, considering his crackdown on the opposition, I don't think he was democratically legitimate. I wish for the Venezuela people to be able to elect someone without being coerced.
The genocide is too, and I wish our leaders were ready to tell the US to eat shit (I'm an European), but truth is we cannot yet. It will probably take a good decade, but with Donnie and his goons in the US, we are kinda motivated to do so lately.
So yeah, the Hammas chosed the worst timing for their attack, and they fucked up their communication badly enough to make them easy target to Israel propaganda. In ant cases, they have to take their share of blame for what followed.
So as you admit yourself having ne proof whatsoever except a vague feeling the CIA may once again be on the move due to having done destabilization work more than 60 years ago, a possibly doctored tweet, and some casual logical fallacies.
Where is the "trust me, bro" ?
OK, I respect your efforts to engage but you need to see the bigger picture here.
Iran is seen by Zionists as the head of the snake, the strategic backstop for supporting Palestinian liberation and resisting israel hegemony in the region and since Obama it has been the subject of
Even before then Bush II labeled it part of the "axis of evil" and primed for regime change after Iraq.
Look into Israeli and US policy papers like the Oded Plan (1982) the "Clean Break" (1996) and the Brookings Institute Paper "Which Path to Persia?" in 2009. These deal with the dismemberment of states in the Middle East along sectarian lines to strengthen Israel. The last one deals.explicitly with pathways to regime change.in Iran.
If you dont understand the context you will only ever take these flashpoints at face value when they are being used to manufacture consent for wars of aggression.
Mossad literally tweeted it themselves.
Link?
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/article-881733
Thank you for providing a reliable source.
So yeah, that tweet is quite the smoking gun about Mossad being now involved with the protest (which isn't surprising, sabotage is part of any external intelligence toolset).
Now to say that everything is because of them/the CIA, and not because of the systemic corruption of the Iranian regime, I find it quite far fetched, and quite dishonest toward the Iranian manifestants who do have legitimate matters to protest about (and aren't foreign agents).
I'd tell Mossad to go fuck themselves, and let the Iranian people do their revolution however they see fit, but on the other hand, there is so much difference in the regime weaponry compared to the manifestants ones, I'd consider Mossad involvement, if it make the protest more likely to succeed, a necessary evil.
You think the fact that the CIA has conducted multiple color revolutions in the area, and in fact conducted a full regime change in Iran in living memory doesn't lend credibility to the claim? How about the fact that Israel literally launched a war against Iran not 12 months ago, killing civilians, politicians, scientists, etc?
At this point, it strains credulity that any of y'all think that it's NOT being organized by the US.
Just read about NED, color revolutions, the foreign policy of sanctions - particularly Kissinger's thoughts. It's not like history started on Dec 11th.
I'm not saying it is not credible, just that if a regime change is really what the Iranian people wish, having the support of an evil country doesn't change their legitimate aspirations.
Unfortunately this is impossible to know with the current regime, so the only solution is to topple it and hope for the best. But ultimately the Iranian people have to be the ones to choose, not the mollahs, not the US, not Israel.
No. You're upside down. It's not that the Iranian people have the support of an evil regime. It's that if the Iranian people succeed in toppling their government, Israel will dominate the Iranian people and the Iranian people will not be able to express their will. And when the Israelis and USians put their puppets in place, if the Iranians protest, the they'll be brutally suppressed and the death toll will be massive.
The only solution is to topple the aggressors the first. Then and only then is mass Iranian self determination able to be secured.
Well, they are already getting brutally suppressed, what difference would it make? There are no chance of regime change right now, so batter take a chance for improvement than wait like a good sacrificial lamb for better days that will never happen as long as the mollah are in power.
Have you seen Gaza? Libya? Somalia? Syria? Iraq? Afghanistan? That's the difference.
Incorrect attribution of cause. The problems in Iran are caused first and foremost by the siege - brutal sanctions from the US and Europe have caused 10x more deaths than violence from the government. When the seige is broken, then Iranians will have the safety they need to actually prosecute the revolution they need for self-determination.
Because you think that the Mollahs will stop using tanks and machine guns on protesters because the sanctions would be lifted? No, they will use that to reinforce themselves with more weapons, new technologies, and be an even bigger threat for the whole region.
Ooooh, you're an imperialist! Got it.
No. The Iranian government is not in the business of killing as many people as they can. That's Israel and the US. And the way we know that the news reports about what's happening in Iran are lies is because the claim is that Iran is able to kill 10x as many people per day as Israel was able to kill in Gaza at the height of their offensive.
Maybe you think you don't agree with American imperialism, but this is what you sound like:
It's been openly stated in Western media why the Iranian people are protesting - economic hardship. It's also been stated that the reason for the economic hardship is US economic sanctions. And it's also been stated that the reason for the sanctions is to goad the Iranian people into demanding regime change. And it's also been stated that the reason to goad the Iranian people into regime change is to reestablish the dominance of US interests over Iran.
https://apnews.com/live/iran-protests-updates-1-12-2026
Associated Press. In black and white.
You would do well to actually consider the real world instead of arguing about vacuous morality while only consuming Western propaganda.
And yes, groups like the Human Rights Activists of Iran are Western propagandists, funded by the CIA and US State Department through the NED, with headquarters in Fairfax, VA, about 15 miles from CIA HQ.
https://www.mintpressnews.com/revealed-the-cia-backed-think-tanks-fueling-the-iran-protests/290638/
Ah, the good old strawman. Demonize your opponent to try to get the "upper hand".
I'm well aware how the US sanctions affect the population and what is its objective. I condemn them as much as you do. But you seem to be blind on one very important thing: how it affect the population VS how it affects the elites.
The elites of the regime lives good lives, barely affected by the sanctions (other than not being able to go to most westerns countries). Spending billions into missiles they spend without much result (so much that even a missed impact on Israel soil make the whole west headlines). To what gain? Meanwhile you got a population that tries to live, some just survive considering the little they got. I won't say they are worst than the US at taking care of the general population well-being, but they sure aren't much better.
You got in both cases powerful leaders doing every evils to stay in power, even knowingly helping their adversary in order to keep them breathing (Bibi and the Hamas), and keep the fear of the other alive.
All I wish for the Iranian people is a life free, without both mollahs and outsides diktats. You won't get that from the mollah. I'd doubt you'll get that from the US either, or any imperialist power (Russia, China). But if the Iranians people are as resilient as they were under the US sanctions and the mollah regime, I believe they can do it.
Literally the only way the Iranians were able to throw off the imperial yoke was to establish the theocracy. That's the historical reality. The Iranians already went democratic and they got fucking owned by the imperialists. Why do we think it's going to be different this time when the US just fucking bombed them less than 12 months ago?
The Iranian missile program is one the most efficient in the world. It is completely indigenous, not relying on foreign governments to keep their deterrence systems in place. Each piece of material produced in Iran is produced by Iranian workers, and can be up to 90% cheaper than equivalent munitions of their adversaries. The idea that missile production is why Iranians are in trouble is ridiculous. It's literally one of the key reasons Israel and the US don't feel confident enough to go for a full frontal assault on the country. The job of the government is national defense and Iran was doing a good job at that until last year when Israel dealt a devastating blow, and the only thing that stopped Israel going further were the Iranian's missiles.
If you think Iran is helping Israel in order to create the political theater they need to control their people, you are lost in delusion.