IN THE context of Israel and the US’s unprovoked attack on Iran, it is worth understanding the motivations of some of those pushing regime change in Iran, and the truth of their relationship to the Iranian people. 

The Western media has been adept for many years in its obfuscation of the real objectives of the Iranian revolution in 1979, which overthrew the dictatorship of the Shah of Iran.

The revolution was one to establish a national democratic republic and mobilised forces from across the social spectrum, from the organised working class, academics, and the clergy. External attempts to subvert the revolution were always a danger, not least the Western-backed attack upon Iran by Iraq, which led to eight years of war from 1980-88, and had a devastating impact upon both nations. 

However, the internal dynamics of Iran, with the clergy gaining control of the state apparatus, establishing a theocratic dictatorship, and conducting waves of arrests and executions of the progressive opposition, was the fatal blow to the progress of the revolution and the signal for Iran’s retreat into a reactionary medievalism. 

In defence of women’s rights, the rights of trade unions to organise, the rights of opposition political parties to freely operate, the Committee for the Defence of the Iranian People’s Rights has been the leading British campaign in solidarity with the Iranian people against the dictatorship in Tehran for over 40 years. 

On this basis, in line with the wishes of the Iranian people as expressed in their opposition to the dictatorship of the former shah in 1979 and, as increasingly expressed in their opposition to the theocratic dictatorship today, popular democratic transition in Iran is vital to secure peace, democracy and social justice for the people of Iran. 

This, however, is not the regime change which Trump in the White House or Netanyahu in Tel Aviv are seeking. On the contrary, a progressive and democratic Iran is the furthest from their minds as support for monarchist opposition in the form of Reza Pahlavi, son of the former Shah, based in the US, is given greater prominence by Western politicians and media. 

Netanyahu’s call for Iranians to rise up against the present regime in Iran has been echoed by Pahlavi, who met Netanyahu on a visit to Israel in 2023. The likelihood of Pahlavi being able to mobilise mass popular support inside Iran is slim, however, given his distance from the country and the perception of many Iranians that he is collaborating with the aggressor Israel. 

Any return to Iran for Pahlavi would need the significant backing of US or Israeli military forces to suppress the opposition which such a reactionary move would provoke. The danger of Iran becoming a state dismembered by Western imperialism, such as has been the case with Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and Syria, would be all too real in such a scenario. 

An alternative for the West could be backing the Mujahedin-e Khalq, an exiled group that enjoys support in the US from hawks such as veteran Republican John Bolton. During the 1980s, the MEK backed Iraq in its war with Iran, and the Islamic regime often accuses it of collaborating with Israel. Like Pahlavi, the MEK does not enjoy popular support inside Iran and would require significant external backing in order to maintain any grip on power. 

Recent years have seen increasingly popular opposition movements inside Iran. Millions protested disputed elections in 2009 in what became known as the Green Movement. In 2022, the Women, Life, Freedom Movement mobilised millions across Iranian cities, calling for an end to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s rule following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody after she was arrested for allegedly not properly wearing her hijab. 

Workers in the transport, oil, public services and teaching sectors have taken action to improve wages and conditions in spite of trade unions being effectively outlawed in Iran. These are the potential movers of change that Trump and Netanyahu do not want to see — those who are opposed to the theocratic dictatorship but equally do not want to see Iran’s future shaped by the outside interests of Israel or US imperialism. 

Change in Iran has been coming for a long time, but it must be change for the people, by the people, not change shaped by foreign intervention and an imperialist agenda, imposed upon the people of Iran. 

For more information on the Committee for the Defence of the Iranian People’s Rights, visit Codir.net.