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We Are Persian, Not Iranian: The Diaspora’s Response to the Fall of the Islamic Republic

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Protesters wave Iranian flags and banners in a demonstration advocating for freedom and rights, highlighting cultural and national identity.Those who despise the regime often call themselves Persian rather than Iranian, and they wave the Persian flag, which was later altered by the regime with Arabic writing added. Once the regime falls, the Persian people will be free to be Persian again and move beyond the memories of the disastrous Iranian regime. Image by Gemini.

In an Instagram video, a Persian protester goes out on the streets of Los Angeles to shout his praise for the U.S. government for killing Ayatollah Khamenei and bringing hope of liberation to the people of Iran. Across the street are American liberals with banners that read “Hands Off Iran.” He confronts them, furious not only that people who never suffered under the regime want it preserved, but also about the flag they are waving.

He holds the original Persian flag, the Lion and Sun, which has become the symbol of the anti-regime movement. The “Hands Off” protesters are waving the Islamic Republic’s flag, which bears Arabic rather than Persian writing. When he points this out, the liberals tell him he is wrong.

Before the revolution, Iran’s flag centered on the Lion and Sun emblem, traceable thousands of years to before the Achaemenid era. Following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the flag was changed on July 29, 1980. The Lion and Sun was replaced with a stylized rendering of the Arabic word “Allah,” and the Arabic phrase “Allahu Akbar” was added 22 times in Kufic script along the edges of the green and red bands.

The Persian word for God is “Khoda” or “Parwardigār.” One Iranian commentator noted that Iran is the only country in the world with a flag containing a language other than its own official language. Critics argue the post-revolutionary flag deliberately marginalizes Iran’s pre-Islamic heritage, and its Islamic symbols have raised questions about inclusivity for Iran’s non-Muslim minorities: Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians.

After 1979, the Lion and Sun was strictly banned from public use inside Iran. Yet a 2022 survey found that 46% of respondents inside Iran preferred it as their national flag, compared to only 30% who chose the Islamic Republic’s flag.

Following the U.S.-Israel strikes, an Iranian protester climbed the wall of Iran’s embassy in London to replace the official flag with the Lion and Sun, footage shared by U.S. President Donald Trump. Similar replacements followed at Iranian embassies in Canberra, Stockholm, Oslo, Rome, Munich, Hamburg, and Ljubljana. For many protesters, the flag is less about monarchism than about distancing themselves from the Islamic Republic.

London’s Metropolitan Police imposed conditions on both the Iranian diaspora rallies and the “Hands Off Iran” protests to prevent clashes between the two groups.

Yudval David, a Fox News commentator and member of the Middle East Forum, told The Gateway Pundit that there are four to five million Iranians around the world who fled the Islamic Revolution, and that many prefer to call themselves Persian to separate themselves from the regime.

“We’re seeing them supporting the United States and Israel,” he said, pointing to protests and marches across Europe and the U.S. in support of the strikes. He added that at Israeli embassies around the world, Iranians and Persians are gathering to lay flowers, sing songs, and express support for Israel for helping and rescuing them.

David explained that inside Iran many people have lived in fear under a regime that has maintained power through intimidation and repression, and that the airstrikes have given many a sense of hope.

He also noted the strikes fell during the Jewish holiday of Purim, which he described as commemorating the survival of Persian Jews during the Persian Empire, when leaders attempted to eradicate the Jewish people but the Jews survived and fought back.

David added that Persian Jews are one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world, with more than 2,500 years of history in Iran, and that the Islamic Revolution forced most of that community into exile.

“So the fact that all of this is happening right now, during the holiday of Purim, is very, very significant,” he said.

The scene on the streets of Los Angeles captures a divide that runs through the Western response to the fall of the Islamic Republic. On one side, Persians who lived under the regime, who lost family members to it, who fled it, and who have spent decades hoping for its end, are celebrating in the streets waving the flag of their ancestors.

On the other side, Western activists who have never set foot in Iran wave the regime’s Arabic-inscribed flag and demand it be left in peace. The Iranian diaspora has a name for what they are, Persian. What they are defending is not Iran. It is the Islamic Republic, and the Persians who survived it know the difference.

The post We Are Persian, Not Iranian: The Diaspora’s Response to the Fall of the Islamic Republic appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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For the Second Time in a Week, NATO Forces Intercept Iranian Missile Entering Turkey Airspace

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13 hours ago

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March 10, 2026

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Iranian ballistic missiles are targeting everyone around them.

NATO is getting into the action.

As the military conflict between US-Israel and Iran progresses in an ever-more-brutal way, the Islamic regime of the mullahs continues to strike everyone around it – friend or foe.

As much as the civilian leadership apologizes for the attacks on neighboring countries, nothing has really changed.

Now, even NATO member Turkey has started to get targeted.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization ‘stands ready’ to defend its members’ territory, it said, after Iranian ballistic missiles entered Turkish airspace.

Ankara said today (9) that it shot down a second missile in a week.

Euronews reported:

“NATO forces have intercepted an Iranian missile heading to Türkiye for the second time in less than a week, as US-Israeli strikes on Iran throw the wider Middle East into conflict.”

Both the Turkish Ministry of Defense and NATO spokesperson confirmed the incident.

The intercepted Iranian ballistic missile was reportedly headed toward Turkish airspace close to the Syrian border.

“According to NATO sources, there is as yet no indication Turkey is triggering formal proceedings within the alliance to initiate action against Iran.”

Watch: Erdogan criticizes Israel ‘pitting brother against brother’.

Read more:

Israel and US Forces BEGIN Massive Strikes on Iranian Oil Depots and Refineries in Major War Escalation — Iran Fires Missiles at Haifa Refinery in Retaliation (VIDEO)

The post For the Second Time in a Week, NATO Forces Intercept Iranian Missile Entering Turkey Airspace appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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Bill Maher Slams Kamala Harris Over Comments Against Iran Strikes: ‘Who Knows More About What the American People Don’t Want?”

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13 hours ago

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March 10, 2026

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Bill Maher  – Screencap of Twitter/X video.

During his opening monologue on Real Time with Bill Maher, Maher slammed Kamala Harris for her stance on the current conflict in Iran.

The Gateway Pundit reported that the United States and Israel launched ‘Operation Epic Fury’ against Iran last weekend.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was eliminated in a joint military operation conducted by Israel and the United States. At least 40 other senior Iranian regime leaders were also killed in the strikes.

Harris can’t keep her stance straight on Iran straight.

In October 2024, when asked which foreign country she considers the be our greatest adversary, the failed presidential candidate Harris responded, “Well, there are different reasons we should, um, we should be thoughtful about each. Most recently, I think there’s an obvious one in mind, which is Iran.”

“I mean, look, Iran has American blood on their hands.”

On Sunday, Harris flip-flopped saying, “Donald Trump has dragged us into a war the American people don’t want.”

Following news of the strikes, Harris wrote on X, “Donald Trump is dragging the United States into a war the American people do not want. Let me be clear: I am opposed to a regime-change war in Iran, and our troops are being put in harm’s way for the sake of Trump’s war of choice.”

Maher slammed Harris, noting, “Kamala Harris made a statement. She said, ‘This is a war the American people don’t want.'”

“Who knows more about what the American people don’t want?”

“She’s right. Like 6 out of 10, the American people don’t want this war. Okay, it doesn’t mean they’re right. We’ll see. What’s bizarre is, Don, I’m one of the few people on your enemy’s list who is backing you on this, we’ll see.”

“And yet today, today, this is today, March 6th, at 8: 50 AM, he tweets about the war, ‘There will be no deal until we have unconditional surrender.'”

“Important statement to be put out.”

Watch:

The post Bill Maher Slams Kamala Harris Over Comments Against Iran Strikes: ‘Who Knows More About What the American People Don’t Want?” appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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JUST IN: Arizona Senate President Confirms “the FBI Has the Records” After FBI Seizes Maricopa County Election Records in Criminal Probe

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14 hours ago

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March 10, 2026

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Ballot counting at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center in Phoenix – photo by Jordan Conradson

The FBI has reportedly expanded its investigation into election fraud in Maricopa County, Arizona, obtaining election records through a subpoena in the state’s largest county. 

This comes after DHS Secretary Kristi Noem traveled to Arizona last month, just weeks after the FBI executed a search warrant in Fulton County, investigating fraud in the 2020 election.

Arizona State Senator Jake Hoffman at the time had teased a major breakthrough in Arizona’s elections, saying he’d been in contact with the Department of Homeland Security for the “last 72hrs,” adding, “Stay tuned America.”

JUST IN: DHS Sec Kristi Noem in Maricopa County for “Georgia-Like” Event with Election Officials, John Solomon Says – AZ State Senator: “Stay Tuned America” (VIDEO)

Now, the FBI has quietly seized Maricopa County election data and voting records via a grand jury subpoena, according to Just the News.

The probe reportedly involves allegations from the 2024 election that Runbeck Election Services, the private company that provides ballot printing and mail-in ballot services in 31 states and 54% of the nation’s voters, allegedly commingled voted ballots with blank ballots in multiple states. US Rep. Abe Hamadeh previously alerted the Department of Justice to these findings and demanded an investigation.

This also comes after the 2020 and 2022 elections, during which hundreds of thousands of mail-in ballots were counted without chain-of-custody documentation and with mismatched signatures.

Per Just the News:

The sources, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because of the secrecy of the grand jury probe, said FBI agents are receiving gigabytes of electronic election data from Maricopa County, about a month after the bureau first disclosed an investigation into election irregularities by raiding a warehouse near Atlanta and seizing ballots from the 2020 election conducted in Fulton County, Georgia’s largest metropolis.

...

Sources said the FBI is likely to execute searches and subpoenas in other states beyond Georgia and Arizona in coming weeks.

The bureau has been coy about the full extent of its probe, but the unsealed affidavit from its raid of Fulton County’s election center made clear the bureau is looking at possible violation of federal laws that require election administrators to follow state laws when sending out and counting ballots.

FBI Special Agent Hugh Raymond Evans told the court the bureau has "substantiated" some major irregularities in how votes were counted in Georgia's largest urban area in the aftermath of the 2020 election and is probing whether those failures were intentional efforts to violate federal election law.

Trump shared the report on Truth Social, commenting, "Great!!!"

Arizona State Senate President Warren Peterson further confirmed that the investigation is ongoing. "Late last week I received and complied with a federal grand jury subpoena for records relating to the Arizona State Senate’s 2020 audit of Maricopa County. The FBI has the records. Any other report is fake news," he said on X.

This is a developing story. 

The post JUST IN: Arizona Senate President Confirms “the FBI Has the Records” After FBI Seizes Maricopa County Election Records in Criminal Probe appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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