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Source: http://www.the-american-interest.com/2016/07/11/irans-kurds-now-growing-restless/
Iran's Kurds Growing Restless
(American Interest) Walter Russell Mead - Guerrillas in Iranian Kurdistan attacked government officials last weekend. The New York Times reported that Iran's Kurdish regions have seen an upsurge in violence, with several clashes erupting between Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and Kurdish fighters. Iran is a multinational state and only just over half the citizens are of Persian ethnic origin. Currently, a mix of ideology (militant Shi'ism against a hostile world), strong domestic security forces, and the clerical and religious networks loyal to the ruling mullahs help hold the country together. But the revolutionary ideology is increasingly hollow, the security and religious networks corrupt and unpopular, and restlessness among both Persian and non-Persian Iranians is growing.