Israel’s latest military strike on Iran, dubbed 'Operation Rising Lion', was more than a show of force—it was a political signal. While missiles targeted IRGC infrastructure and killed its head, the operation’s name also raised immediate questions: was this a nod to Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s last Shah, who uses the lion as his personal symbol and brand?

If so, the implications are hard to miss. Israel’s leadership appears to be gambling that external pressure might spark an uprising inside Iran—one that could sweep away the Islamic Republic and perhaps even restore a monarchy that was once a close ally of Tel Aviv. Pahlavi wasted no time in responding. Within hours, he issued a public call for nationwide strikes and defections from the armed forces, framing the moment as an opportunity for regime change. Israeli media, including The Jerusalem Post, quickly amplified his message, framing him as a legitimate alternative to the current regime and a voice for Iran’s future.

Of course, this is no liberation, just another authoritarian fantasy, rebranded.

Iranians—particularly those from marginalized communities—know better. The Ahwazi Arabs, Kurds, Baloch, and others have long borne the brunt of the Islamic Republic’s racism and violence. But they also remember the monarchy. The Shah’s regime was no golden age for them—it was an era of forced assimilation, surveillance, and repression. The secret police, SAVAK, didn’t spare minorities or dissenters. The idea of returning to that past isn’t hope. It’s a threat.

Meanwhile, the Islamic Republic’s pretence of championing Palestine and the oppressed has long collapsed—nowhere more clearly than in Syria, where for over a decade Iran wasn’t a supporter of resistance, but a murderous occupying power. It sent troops, money, and militias to prop up Assad’s dictatorship, called Syria its “35th province,” and played a central role in displacing millions of Syrians and ethnically cleansing massive areas. It left the country in ruins, and only with Syrian revolutionaries’ heroic ousting of Assad’s regime last December did that chapter come to a close.

And yet, while Syria is struggling to rebuild, Israel continues to launch strikes on its territory, intended to antagonize, divide, and destabilize, showing little regard for the consequences to a shattered nation. The frustration and fury across the region is not just about military attacks, but about the cynical, calculated politics behind them.

We are watching two symbiotic authoritarian regimes - in Tehran and Tel Aviv - feed off each other. Iran uses Israeli aggression to justify its repression at home. Israel points to Iran to excuse endless war, expansion, and the erosion of rights. Both silence dissent. Both weaponize fear. And now, both appear willing to dust off an old monarchy and present it as a solution to crisis.

But the people of Iran, like the people of Syria and Palestine, aren’t calling for a crown. They’re calling for freedom, dignity, and genuine democracy—not another unelected strongman, not a revival of bloodlines and palaces.

Operation Rising Lion may be bold in name, but its vision is tired. It’s another foreign-backed shortcut to “stability”, the favoured euphemism for authoritarian repression, and one that ignores the lessons of the past and the demands of the present. Real change in the Middle East won’t come from bombs or thrones. It comes when people are free to build accountable governments and inclusive societies—on their own terms.

Freedom can be delayed. It can be buried under repression, rubble, exile, and propaganda. But, as Syrians heroically showed, it cannot be extinguished.
Not in Palestine.
Not in Iran.
Not by monarchs.
Not by missiles.