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After President Donald Trump suggested this week that Iranians “would fight back” if they had weapons, Iranian dissidents, military analysts and some Republican lawmakers are openly reviving a once-taboo question: should the West move beyond “maximum pressure” on Tehran and actively support armed resistance inside Iran?
“They have to have guns. And I think they’re getting some guns. As soon as they have guns, they’ll fight like, as good as anybody there is,” Trump said in an interview with “The Hugh Hewitt Show,” while discussing anti-regime unrest and the Iranian government’s crackdown on protesters.
The comments come as the Iranian regime emerges weakened from weeks of war, while frustration continues to simmer among many Iranians after years of failed protests and violent crackdowns by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
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Protesters rally in Washington, D.C., on March 7, 2026, supporting regime change in Iran following U.S. and Israeli strikes that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
Supporters of a more aggressive approach argue sanctions, diplomacy and unarmed demonstrations have failed to produce meaningful change inside Iran and say the current moment may represent the best opportunity in decades to challenge the regime from within. Critics warn that openly discussing armed resistance could endanger protesters, deepen divisions inside the opposition and risk pushing Iran toward civil war.
The idea of armed resistance echoes aspects of the Reagan Doctrine, the Cold War-era strategy in which the U.S. backed anti-Soviet resistance movements around the world, from Afghanistan to Nicaragua.
“We need to give Iranians the tools now, and they’ll finish the job themselves,” Brett Velicovich, founder of Powerus and a former U.S. military and intelligence specialist focused on drone warfare, told Fox News Digital.
“It’s their time to do something. There has never been a better chance.”
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Smoke and flames rise at an oil depot in Tehran after airstrikes on March 7, 2026. The United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Feb. 28, leading to Iranian missile retaliation and increased concerns about global energy and transport disruption. (Sasan/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
Velicovich described the strategy as “Reagan Doctrine 2.0,” updated for the age of drones and decentralized warfare.
“Cheap FPV drones, loitering munitions, and small arms let motivated fighters turn Iran’s streets and mountains into a nightmare for the IRGC,” he said. “This isn’t fantasy; it’s asymmetric warfare that works.”
He argued that modern drone technology has fundamentally changed the balance between governments and insurgent or resistance movements.
“Drones democratize power,” Velicovich said. “The regime’s monopoly on violence ends the day the people get eyes in the sky and precision strike capability.”
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Iran is building a decentralized FPV drone capability in basement factories using Chinese parts, defense expert Cameron Chell warns, citing a potential threat to the U.S. homeland. (Getty)
Still, even some critics of the Iranian regime caution that the comparison to Cold War proxy movements has limits.
Unlike Soviet-controlled Eastern Europe or Afghanistan in the 1980s, Iran is a highly nationalistic country with a fragmented opposition and deep fears of foreign intervention following decades of conflict across the Middle East.
Still, calls for more direct support for anti-regime forces are increasingly moving into mainstream Republican foreign policy discussions.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC., recently called for what he described as a “Second Amendment solution” inside Iran.
“If I were President Trump and I were Israel, I would load the Iranian people up with weapons so they could go to the streets armed and turn the tide of battle inside Iran,” Graham said on Hannity.
The question of who would actually receive support, however, remains deeply controversial.
Exiled Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi speaks at the 2023 Women’s Forum hosted by Vital Voices in Washington, D.C., on March 29, 2023. (Paul Morigi/Getty Images)
Some opposition supporters continue to rally around exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, whose name has surfaced during anti-regime protests inside Iran and who has urged the international community not to give Tehran “another lifeline.”
Another group that has shown in the past that it has acted in various operations against the regime, is the controversial People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran, or MEK, which has long positioned itself as an organized opposition force against the Islamic Republic. The MEK recently posted videos showing its members targeting “regime centers and symbols of crime and repression,” in response to the execution of two of its members last month — Hamed Validi and Mohammad (Nima) Massoum-Shahi.
Others point to existing armed or semi-organized anti-regime groups, including Kurdish organizations, Baloch insurgent networks and underground resistance cells operating inside Iran.
Sardar Pashaei, director of the Hiwa Foundation and a former Iranian wrestling champion now living in the United States, warned that publicly discussing arming protesters could itself put lives at risk.
“I think we must be extremely cautious on this issue, especially publicly, because the regime can use it as a pretext to arrest protesters, fabricate cases and even justify executions,” Pashaei told Fox News Digital.
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A woman walks across a nearly empty public square in Tehran, Iran, with a large billboard displaying the portrait of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the background on March 3, 2026. (Vahid Salemi/AP Photo)
“For decades, the Islamic Republic has used accusations of ties to the United States, Israel, or espionage to target dissidents and political prisoners.”
Pashaei argued the better approach is supporting Iranian civil society, restoring internet access and backing democratic opposition groups that reflect Iran’s ethnic and political diversity.
The issue became even more sensitive after Trump said during a phone interview with Fox News Sunday in early April that his administration had previously attempted to send firearms to Iranian protesters through Kurdish channels, though the effort failed.
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Men and women hold Kurdish scarves and roses during Nowruz festivities in Saqqez, Iran, on March 15, 2024. The event took place in the presence of Jina Amini’s father as many in the region continue to honor her legacy. (Barbod Khorshidi/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
“We sent guns to the protesters, a lot of them. We sent them through the Kurds. And I think the Kurds took the guns,” Trump said.
Several Kurdish groups have denied receiving such shipments.
Pashaei warned that claims of foreign weapons support could deepen divisions inside the opposition while also exposing Kurdish groups to further retaliation from Tehran.
“During the so-called ceasefire period, Kurdish opposition groups were targeted more than 30 times with drone and missile attacks,” he said, adding that four young Kurdish Peshmerga fighters were killed, including 19-year-old Ghazal Mowlan.
Cars burn in a street during a protest over the collapse of the currency’s value in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 8, 2026. (Stringer/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS)
One source familiar with discussions surrounding Iranian opposition strategy said supporters of a more aggressive approach increasingly believe the current moment presents a rare opportunity to identify, train and support local resistance networks capable of protecting protesters and challenging the regime from within.
The source argued that while Iran spent decades building and cultivating proxy networks across the Middle East, Western governments largely avoided investing in organized anti-regime infrastructure inside Iran itself.
Others warn that empowering armed factions could trigger ethnic fragmentation, civil war or a Syria-style conflict inside Iran.
According to the source, supporters of a more aggressive approach increasingly believe the current moment presents a rare opportunity to identify, train and support local resistance networks capable of protecting protesters and challenging the regime from within.
Whether Washington is willing to move beyond pressure campaigns and sanctions toward something closer to a modernized Reagan Doctrine remains unclear.
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Members of security forces watch over the crowd during a funeral procession for IRGC Navy Chief Alireza Tangsiri and other senior naval commanders killed in U.S.-Israeli strikes in late March in Tehran, Iran, on April 1, 2026. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)
For now, Trump’s comments have pushed a once-theoretical conversation into the open, while some argue the current moment may represent the best opportunity in decades to challenge the regime.