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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldbriefing/story/0,,1743806,00.html
U.S. Encouraged by Tehran's Enemy Within
(Guardian-UK) Simon Tisdall - Increased repression and unrest affecting Iran's numerous ethnic and religious minorities are providing new opportunities for the U.S. as it steps up efforts to destabilize the hardline Islamic government of President Ahmadinejad. Kurdish sources say persecution of Iran's estimated six million Kurds has intensified since Ahmadinejad came to power. Amnesty International reported in February that "minorities, believed to number about half Iran's population, are subject to an array of discriminatory laws and practices." Ethnically Arab Khuzestan province in southwest Iran has witnessed several recent bomb attacks. Sistan-Baluchestan's large ethnic Baluchi Sunni population has long protested about discrimination by the Persian Shia majority, and there are stirrings of discontent in the northeast, home to two to three million ethnic Turkmen.