Hejar Berenji (Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran) – The ONLY Way to End the Iranian Threat!
Trump’s Iran Speech on Wed: What he DID say and what he DIDN’T say.
Operation Epic Fury / Operation Lion’s Roar Week #5 Update.
Special Guest: Hejar Berenji (KDP-I) joins us from Iran. He and Gen Audino take a dive into the Iranian regime’s motivations, as well as what the ONLY way is to bring freedom to the people of Iran and to end the nuclear threat moving forward. If this doesn’t happen, then a future regime could be just as dangerous as the current one. They also discuss reports of up to 15,000 Shia proxy fighters that have entered Iran from Iraq to help control the population, as well as what exactly Kurdish fighters need in order to carry out a ground offensive in Iran.
The IRGC is now the dominant force in Iran and will eventually construct a fundamental Islamist military led regime antithetical to our interests, if it is not somehow marginalized. From the outset, I have suggested somehow widening the divide between the Artesh and the IRGC/Basij as a way to accomplish meaningful regime change. Short of waging all out war on the ground, I think doing this is one of the few ways forward with any chance of success.
Iran will need a military after the conflict. The Artesh is not irredeemably associated with repression of the people as the IRGC/Basij are. While less well equipped and trained than the IRGC, the Artesh have an advantage in numbers and sufficient arms to confront and marginalize the remaining IRGC/Basij forces, especially if given Israeli/US support. Even better, Artesh soldiers already harbor smoldering resentment towards the IRGC/Basij for the IRGC/Basij repressing/murdering of the people of Iran and favoritism shown by the former regime to the IRGC.
If I were in the administration, I would bypass the supposed current Iranian leadership to negotiate directly to the leadership of the Artesh. I would make promises to the Artesh leadership about the roles they would play in a post conflict Iran (bribery might even work). I would promise the Artesh drone/air support for whatever military action was needed to secure control of the country, with the goal of casting the Artesh as the savior of Iran, and the needed “boots on the ground.” Further, at a granular level, powers within the Artesh know precisely what needs doing to marginalize the IRGC in much more detail than we.
Please run my suggestion up as high as you can. I think it has merit.
Thanks, Pete. Good thinking. Yes, the Artesh/IRGC divide is a known factor. I’m very confident we have been covertly working to expand and exploit that divide (as well as others within the IRGC itself). That said, the Artesh has a troop strength of roughly 400,000. The IRGC and basij accounted for 600,000 on active duty plus an estimated 1M more in reserves, but those numbers have obviously been attritted somewhat. That is a factor, too. Like you, I believe elements in the Artesh have potential to help in an uprising…but the overwhelming number of BOG for an uprising will still have to come from within the 90M Iranian citizens. Our recent Mossad guest, Oded Ailman, estimated 80% of them oppose the current regime.