Exclusive: “Iran Fears Popular Uprisings More Than Fighter Jets,” Kurdish Commander Tells ME24
By Suzan Quitaz
In an exclusive interview with ME24, General Hussein Yazdanpanah, commander-in-chief of the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), offered a rare inside assessment of the condition of the Iranian regime, the growing pressure on its security apparatus, and the prospects for renewed unrest inside the Islamic Republic.
For Yazdanpanah, one of the most prominent armed opponents of Tehran, the greatest threat facing the regime may no longer come from American or Israeli firepower. It comes from within Iran itself.
“It would not be an exaggeration to say that the regime fears a wave of popular uprisings and revolts more than it fears fighter jets in its sky,” Yazdanpanah told ME24.
Speaking about the consequences of the US-Israeli military campaign, the internal balance of power in Tehran, Iran’s worsening economic conditions and the future of the Kurdish opposition, Yazdanpanah argued that while the Islamic Republic has been badly weakened, its coercive machinery remains intact—and increasingly focused on preventing domestic revolt.
The Kurdish Force on Iran’s Northwestern Frontier
There are an estimated 7,000–10,000 Kurdish-Iranian Peshmerga fighters operating along Iran’s northwestern borders with Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region. These fighters represent one of Tehran’s largest non-state armed threats and are deeply rooted in Iran’s mountainous northwestern region, a predominantly Kurdish-inhabited area that Kurds refer to as Eastern Kurdistan, or Rojhelat.
Iran’s Kurdish population is estimated at between 12 and 15 million people, accounting for roughly 12% to 17% of the country’s total population.
The fighters mainly belong to three Kurdish forces: the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), and the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI). All three are designated as terrorist organisations by Tehran and maintain a presence in the Iranian and Iraqi Kurdish regions.
At the beginning of the joint US-Israeli military operation against Iran on February 28, 2026, the possibility of Kurdish-Iranian fighters carrying out a limited ground operation in western Iran to complement extensive American and Israeli airstrikes was considered by the Trump administration. For Yazdanpanah and his forces, however, the war has already come directly to them.
“We Are Living Under an Unprotected Sky”
In his interview with ME24, Yazdanpanah said PAK has faced relentless Iranian retaliation since the beginning of the US-Israeli campaign. “We have been subjected to 96 ballistic missile and drone strikes by the Iranian regime,” he said.
Yazdanpanah said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has repeatedly targeted not only PAK military bases but civilian areas, including homes, schools and children’s playgrounds. According to him, the attacks have killed and wounded numerous people, including PAK fighters.
“We are living under an unprotected sky. We do not have any dedicated defensive systems or weapons capable of countering such attacks,” he said. The PAK commander explained that the group’s defensive measures largely depend on intelligence gathered through its “sources/operative” within Iranian state institutions, as well as cooperation from ordinary Iranian citizens.
Yet Yazdanpanah argues that the intensity of Tehran’s attacks should not be mistaken for political strength. In his view, the Islamic Republic has been severely weakened, even as its security institutions remain capable of inflicting enormous damage.
Has Iran Become an “IRGC Republic”?
Asked by ME24 whether Tehran still retains full control over the country after being severely bruised by the US-Israeli military operation, Yazdanpanah argued that, in reality, “Tehran has lost the characteristics of a government”.
The authorities, he said, no longer demonstrate genuine concern for the security of their citizens, the protection of their homes or the provision of basic needs. Instead, “it has become primarily an authority focused on controlling society and suppressing the nations living within that geography”.
Power and decision-making are now more concentrated than ever among a group of senior commanders within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Yazdanpanah said—a development that Mid.East Journal has previously examined in its analysis of Iran’s transformation into what some regional observers increasingly describe as an “IRGC Republic”.
Yet Yazdanpanah emphasised that Iran’s ruling elite has not disintegrated.
“They have not yet fractured or turned against one another,” he said.
He also questioned the visible authority of Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s current Supreme Leader. “What kind of leader and decision-maker is someone who, during such a critical moment for his country, has neither a voice nor a visible presence?” he asked.
Poverty, Repression and Executions — A Failing Regime
For ordinary Iranians, Yazdanpanah described the situation to ME24 as beyond catastrophic. Alongside brutal state repression, widespread poverty has made daily survival increasingly difficult.
“Bread itself has become a major concern; the people are very poor,” he said.
The regime, Yazdanpanah argues, is deeply frustrated by its military losses, including the deaths of senior figures within its leadership. Its strategies for countering the US-Israeli attacks have failed, he said, and the authorities are increasingly venting their anger on the population.
Thousands of civilians have reportedly been killed amid the regime’s suppression of unrest, while tens of thousands more have been imprisoned across Iran. The Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran currently records 1,055 reported executions since the beginning of 2026.
Human rights organisations have also documented the execution of protesters and political dissidents following grossly unfair and summary proceedings, including cases involving accusations of cooperation with hostile states, while Iranian ethnic and religious minorities have been disproportionately represented among those subjected to the death penalty. The executions, Yazdanpanah argues, are intended to spread terror and frighten people out of finding the courage to rise up.
“The Regime Fears a Wave of Popular Uprisings”
Despite the crackdown, Iran continues to witness what Yazdanpanah describes as “small-scale pocket protests,” and he praises what he sees as the continued resistance of ordinary Iranians.
“It would not be an exaggeration to say that the regime fears a wave of popular uprisings and revolts more than it fears fighter jets in its sky,” he told ME24.
Once the situation reaches a boiling point and people can no longer bear it, he added, “no force will be able to withstand the anger and resentment of the people.”
Yet Yazdanpanah remains deeply critical of the international response. He said it was frustrating to see that “the international community remains largely indifferent and unwilling to intervene”. At the same time, he said he was not surprised by what he described as “Western indifference”.
“They prioritise their own financial interests rather than ending the immense suffering of the people in Iran,” he said. Some Western governments, he claimed, “are worried that the regime may be nearing its collapse”.
Praise for US and Israeli Strikes — but Anger at the Pause
Yazdanpanah also spoke openly about his assessment of the US-Israeli military campaign. He expressed appreciation for the strikes, saying they were responsible “for eliminating many Iranian criminals who were responsible for crimes against humanity, and for destroying thousands of the regime’s terror and military targets”.
The United States and Israel, he said, “have rendered a major service to the millions of oppressed people who live under this regime”.
But he also expressed frustration with Washington’s decision to “pause” the war, arguing that the move left the regime intact and able to continue repressing its population and projecting violence across the Middle East.
At the same time, Yazdanpanah praised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government for continuing its efforts to expose what he describes as the criminal nature of the Iranian regime and the threat it poses not only to its own people but to the wider region.
What the US Withdrawal From Iraq Could Mean for Kurdistan
As the interview drew to a close, I asked Yazdanpanah about the US withdrawal of its forces from Iraq, completed on September 30, and what this could mean for the Kurdistan Region. He said there is no doubt that the withdrawal would have negative consequences for the only Kurdish region that enjoys semi-autonomy and is constitutionally recognised as a political entity. However, he ruled out a “fatal outcome”.
The political leadership and military and security institutions of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, he said, are determined to confront an attack from any side and protect their territory, people and political entity.
Nevertheless, a US withdrawal would make the Kurdistan Region’s security environment more difficult and could give Iran greater freedom to expand its activities and influence in Iraq. From there, Yazdanpanah warned, the threat could extend beyond Iraq and the Kurds to neighbouring countries, including Israel.
“I would also not rule out the possibility that, following a US withdrawal, ISIS—or groups of a similar nature—could regenerate, rebuild its strength and once again attempt to seize territory and gain control of energy resources,” he said.
A Kurdish Message to Washington
In his final remarks to ME24, Yazdanpanah broadened his criticism beyond Iran to what he sees as a longstanding contradiction in Western policy toward the Middle East.
He argued that Washington and European governments often appear to give greater consideration to actors who fight against them, kill their soldiers and oppose their values—including Muqtada al-Sadr, Ahmad al-Sharaa, also known as al-Jolani, and the Taliban—than to those who seek friendship with the West and are prepared to pursue balanced relations based on shared interests and values.
“Otherwise, how does it make sense that a nation fighting extremism, terrorism by armed groups and state-sponsored terrorism is not supported in its pursuit of statehood, and is instead sacrificed every few years in political and security bargaining?” he asked.
It was a fitting conclusion to an interview in which Yazdanpanah repeatedly returned to the same central argument: military pressure has weakened the Islamic Republic, but the decisive struggle over Iran’s future may ultimately take place inside the country itself.
For one of Tehran’s most prominent Kurdish opponents, the question is no longer simply how much military power the Islamic Republic still possesses, but how long it can contain the anger accumulating beneath it.
Suzan Quitaz is a Kurdish-Swedish journalist and researcher specialising in Middle Eastern affairs. She was an Israel-based journalist and presenter for the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs and previously worked as a field producer and journalist for several prominent Qatari media outlets.