“America and Israel did not begin this war for our hopes, but for their own interests,” said Mustafa Mauludi, vice-president of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI). “But they are targeting bases of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps [IRGC], and this will be good for us and help us to go in.”
At 67, he has been waiting most of his lifetime for the fall of the Islamic regime.
Wearing traditional Kurdish dress, he recounted a painful family history – one cousin killed by the regime aged 13 and another who remains in prison after 31 years on suspicion of collaborating with the opposition. He said 60% of his family had been arrested and badly treated because of his political activities.
Mauludi already has a mental picture of his first moments back on home soil.
“When I get to the first village,” he told us, “I will say with a loud voice: ‘I have been fighting for you, you are my people, and now I will fight even more.'” He believes he will be there in time to celebrate the Kurdish new year festival, Nowruz, which falls on 21 March.