A man identifying himself as Colonel Ebrahim Aghaei Kamazani appeared beside the Lion and Sun flag in a video circulated this week, urging Iranians to begin a nationwide march on Sunday, November 16, to press for a transition from the Islamic Republic. The appeal coincided with the arrest of two men in Tehran’s metro for displaying the pre-1979 flag and echoed exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi’s June 23, 2025 call in Paris for peaceful regime change.
This week, a video circulated on social media showing a man in uniform identifying himself as Colonel Ebrahim Aghaei Kamazani, an Iranian Air Force officer, calling on Iranians to launch mass street demonstrations against the Islamic Republic. In the clip, recorded with a Lion and Sun flag in view, he urges the public to start a large march on 25 Aban — which corresponds to Sunday, November 16, 2025 — to begin a national transition away from clerical rule. Iran International reported the video’s circulation and quoted portions of his message; it also noted that his identity and service status have not been independently verified. Multiple outlets transliterated his surname as Kamazani or Komazani.
According to Iran International, the video includes denunciations of the ruling system and a call for people “inside and outside the country” to join a rally under the Lion and Sun flag. Some outlets and posts described his appeal as a “million-strong” march, while others simply cited his call to take to the streets on 25 Aban. Because the video has not been authenticated by independent authorities, the officer’s rank and current affiliation remain unconfirmed.
The video surfaced around the same time that Tehran metro police arrested two men who displayed the pre-1979 Lion and Sun flag on a station platform. Iran International, citing the pro-government Jamaran site, said the pair wore imitation army air-defense uniforms and were detained for disrupting public order. Other regional outlets, including Asharq Al-Awsat and The New Arab, reported the arrests after the footage spread across social media. Whether the two were serving personnel has not been established.
Iran International’s English report initially rendered the date as “November 25.” Its Farsi coverage and other reports indicate the colonel cited 25 Aban in the Iranian calendar, which aligns with November 15–16, 2025; his call specifically referenced Sunday.
Some characterizations of the colonel’s remarks go further. The Daily Wire’s write-up says he framed his appeal by asserting that the late Shah ordered troops not to fire on civilians in 1979 and that veterans of the Imperial Air Force were pivotal in the Iran–Iraq War. Those claims are presented there as part of his message; they have not been independently confirmed in the other sources reviewed, which focused on his call to rally and the use of monarchist symbols.
The video’s message broadly echoes themes voiced by Reza Pahlavi, the exiled crown prince, who on June 23, 2025 in Paris urged support for a peaceful transition and likened the moment to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Reuters reported his call for regime change and a civilian-led transition grounded in national integrity, individual freedoms, and secular governance.
While the video and the metro incident highlight visible expressions of monarchist symbolism inside Iran, authorities and independent media have not verified the colonel’s identity or evidence of organized dissent within the armed forces. As with many developments circulating via social platforms from inside Iran, key details — including the speaker’s status and the scale of any planned demonstrations — remain uncertain.
Editor’s note on dates: 25 Aban 1404 in the Solar Hijri calendar falls on November 15–16, 2025, with Sunday being November 16. Some English-language summaries appear to have misread “25 Aban” as “November 25.”