Iranians are watching you.

Now that the European Union and the United Kingdom are entangled in Iran’s crisis, it is painfully clear: our country is being treated as a strategic playground.

Let’s stop pretending.

When Western officials talk about “stability,” they do not mean freedom. They mean control. They mean containment. They mean shaping outcomes that protect their own interests — energy routes, migration flows, regional leverage — not the birth of a genuinely secular Iranian “republic”.

Millions of Iranians inside Iran and abroad have made it clear they want the return of the Pahlavi monarchy, a symbol of national unity and secular governance. But that choice seems irrelevant to the UN and Europe, whose agendas prioritize control and predictability over the will of the Iranian people.

Now we hear talk of arming Kurdish militant factions along the Iraq–Iran border. This is madness. Fueling armed groups inside a multi-ethnic country of 90 million people is not liberation. It is a recipe for civil war. Anyone who thinks weapons will magically produce democracy has learned nothing from Iraq, Syria, or Libya.

Let me be absolutely clear: we do not want separatist, terrorist, Islamic, Marxist militias crossing our borders under the excuse of regime change. We do not want foreign-funded factions carving up our country. Proxy warfare on Iranian soil is not freedom — it is chaos.

Severing Iran’s territorial integrity would be catastrophic. Any attempt to fragment the country will serve only the greedy strategic and economic interests of the EU and UK elites, who have always put control and predictability above the rights and safety of the Iranian people.

For Israel, the consequences would be severe. A fractured Iran, full of armed militias and proxy factions, would not be weaker. It would be chaotic. Unpredictable.

Dangerous. Missiles, nuclear infrastructure, and regional influence in the hands of uncontrolled groups would threaten Israel directly and undermine any notion of regional stability.

Iran’s unity is not negotiable. Its sovereignty is not optional. It is the foundation of regional balance. Anyone trying to break apart its land under the guise of “liberation” is reckless, selfish, and blind to the consequences — for Iran, for its neighbors, and yes, for Israel.

Yes, the Islamic Republic has devastated our country. It has repressed, jailed, executed, and bankrupted a nation. It must end. But replacing one disaster with another — trading clerical tyranny for foreign-sponsored fragmentation — is not victory. It is suicide.

A strong, secular, sovereign Iran may not be convenient for global powers. A weakened, divided Iran might be easier to manage. But convenience for outsiders is not the standard by which Iranians measure their future.

Iranians want one country. One nation. One secular republic — free from clerical tyranny and free from foreign manipulation.

Iran is not a chessboard. Its people are not pawns. And those who think otherwise are fools playing with fire.

If Western policymakers truly support the Iranian people, they must:

Stop arming militias.

Stop manipulating ethnic fault lines.

Support civil society, political organization, and the Iranian people’s right to choose their own path.

Anything else is not liberation. It is recklessness. It is sabotage.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)