‘We need weapons’: Iran expert says arming ethnic minorities is the only way to bring down the regime

During the unrest last January, various groups managed to capture and hold several cities for 24 hours, despite being armed with nothing.

By Gila Isaacson, JFeed

As nuclear talks between world powers and Iran continue amid contradictory signals from Washington and Tehran, Rani Omrani, director of Radio Ran and a Persian-language correspondent for Voice of America, has offered a rare behind-the-scenes look at the negotiations and the real mood on Iran’s streets.

Tehran’s Tactical Retreat

In recent days, Iran abruptly walked back reports of progress in the talks, denying it had committed to removing enriched uranium from its territory and demanding a 30 to 60-day extension merely to begin discussing the question.

Omrani describes this as a textbook example of what he calls the “Iranian bazaar “game”—pressing hard on secondary issues to distract from core strategic capabilities, including the nuclear program, ballistic missile systems, and proxy armies across the Middle East.

A similar tactic was used in past rounds of diplomacy, when Iran made a show of keeping the Strait of Hormuz open, something that was never actually in dispute, to avoid substantive concessions.

Why Trump Won’t Sign

Omrani is confident that a bad deal will not be signed. He points to Trump’s own public statements—”As a businessman, I don’t make bad deals, trust me”—as a signal that Washington will not allow enriched uranium to remain on Iranian soil.

In his assessment, current diplomatic softening is designed to buy time, calm financial markets, lower oil prices, and demonstrate to European allies that Iran has been given every opportunity to reach an agreement.

When the moment of decision arrives, Trump will not sign.

The stakes are clear: if Iran retains uranium enriched to 20% and 60%, it could produce approximately ten nuclear warheads within months.

Marco Rubio has publicly stated the US will never allow Iran to become a nuclear power.

The realistic scenario, Omrani argues, is a collapse of talks and a return to military confrontation.

The Message from Inside Iran: “We Need Weapons”

Omrani’s most striking insights come from direct contact with Iranian citizens through Radio Ran’s outreach project, in which Iranians use expensive censorship-bypassing tools, at great personal risk, to communicate with the station.

When asked why Iranians have not risen up en masse to topple the regime despite its significant recent setbacks, the answer was unambiguous:

“We went into the streets when you asked us to, and we were ready to shed blood. The regime massacred more than 50,000 people in just two days. “You cannot bring down a monster like this with bare hands—we need weapons.”

Based on these testimonies, Omrani proposes a strategic approach he believes the West has so far ignored: the mass arming of persecuted minority groups inside Iran who are deeply hostile to the central government, specifically the Kurds, Baluchis, and Lors within Iran’s own borders, not those based in neighboring countries.

He notes that during the unrest of last January, these groups managed to capture and hold several cities for 24 hours, armed with nothing.

He draws parallels to the US arming of Afghan rebels against the Soviets and to the more recent example of Syria, where rebel forces toppled Assad after receiving advanced weapons and equipment from Turkey.

“If these people and the Iranian opposition receive weapons and proper backing,” Omrani concludes, “they will make the revolution themselves and bring down Tehran from within, ending the global threat without a prolonged world war.”