Iran and the Revolution for Freedom

A Nation in Revolt

Since late 2025 Iran has been engulfed by a new nationwide uprising. What began as protests over economic collapse, soaring prices and a worthless currency has turned into a direct confrontation with the Islamist dictatorship. Millions across nearly all provinces no longer demand reforms but the end of clerical rule itself.

A Criminal Regime Fights Its Own People

The response of the leadership is pure repression. Security forces and the Revolutionary Guards shoot at unarmed demonstrators, conduct night raids and carry out mass arrests. Dozens have been killed, thousands injured and children are among the victims. Journalists, lawyers, writers and activists disappear into prisons after sham trials. Women stand at the heart of the resistance through the Woman Life Freedom movement, opposing forced veiling, systemic discrimination and sexual abuse in detention. Many pay with their freedom or their lives.

Systematic Human Rights Crimes and Total Censorship

Arbitrary executions of political prisoners, torture, forced confessions and the persecution of ethnic minorities are not exceptions but pillars of state policy. To hide these crimes the regime imposes repeated internet blackouts, isolating entire cities from the outside world and erasing evidence of violence. This revolution is a historic challenge to an illegitimate system. The moral choice for the West is clear. Stand with the Iranian people or continue to tolerate a regime built on oppression, torture and murder.

Perspective by Shimon

What we have witnessed over the past twelve days is not a protest solely about economic conditions. This is a revolution against the Islamic Republic. The mullahs have run the country into the ground since 1979. There is a massive water crisis, a destroyed economy, no human rights, no equality for women and oil and gas revenues flow to regional proxies such as Hamas and Hezbollah. The Iranian people are fed up after forty-seven years of Islamist rule. They understand the immense potential of their country and its citizens. People are calling out clearly in the streets of Tehran, Isfahan and Shiraz for Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi and hope for a democratic transition under his leadership after the fall of the Islamists.

The Islamic Republic has never been weaker. It is on the verge of collapse. The United States and Israel are already considering the implications of the regime’s possible downfall and potential intervention in the uprisings against Khamenei. Compared to the protests of 2017, 2019 and 2022, this marks an evolution in the revolutionary movement. The Iranian people are clearly articulating the end of the Islamic Republic and have identified Reza Pahlavi as a leader who has called for nationwide protests.

In their desperation the mullahs have shut down communications across the country and are using live ammunition against civilians. More than fifty people have been killed including eight children. Over two thousand arrests and 138 executions have been reported in the past twelve days and the numbers are likely higher. According to reports Mashhad Iran’s second largest city is under the control of the people. In Isfahan the state TV propaganda center has been set on fire and millions of brave citizens continue to take to the streets fighting for their freedom and a democratic Iran.

Commentary by Dan

Following the twelve-day war the veil of fear that has oppressed the Iranian people for forty-seven years under a terrorist regime has begun to lift. A system sustained by intimidation violence and external lifelines is now visibly cracking.

For Ali Khamenei long accustomed to relying on allies to bail him out it is increasingly difficult to see where rescue could come from. Vladimir Putin is consumed by Ukraine. Bashar al Assad once the critical conduit for Iranian arms and manpower is out of power and living in exile in Moscow. Hezbollah once the most feared pillar of the mullahs so called axis of resistance has been badly degraded. Hamas is leaderless and largely defanged. Even Nicolás Maduro whose regime functioned as a financial and money laundering lifeline for Tehran is under unprecedented pressure from a bold and unpredictable American president who has warned Khamenei against massacring his own people.

The Islamic Republic faces isolation not just abroad but at home. And that is what truly terrifies it.

As Iranians rise up the regime has responded in the only way it knows how by shutting down the internet and attempting to kill its people in the dark. That is precisely why the free world must be loud. When a regime cuts the internet silence becomes complicity.

We have a duty to be a voice for the brave Iranians risking everything for freedom women students workers and minorities confronting a terrorist gender apartheid state with nothing but courage and truth.

The collapse of this regime would herald a new era of freedom for a people who descend from one of the world’s greatest and most ancient civilisations. It would immediately open the door to partnership with Israel and the United States both eager to see a free Iran succeed. One can hope to see new frameworks for cooperation perhaps even a modern Cyrus Accord signed without delay.

Most importantly the end of the Islamic Republic would send an unmistakable message to the region and the world that there is an alternative to Islamist oppression misogyny homophobia antisemitism and terrorism. A future rooted in coexistence peace and innovation and marked by a renewal of the historic bond between the Iranian and Jewish peoples is within reach.

The Iranian people should know this the lions of Judah who shattered the mullahs axis of terror will roar alongside the lions of Iran until Iran is free and its true lion flag flies once more over the country.

Reflection by Nadia

I have roots in Iran myself and the current situation there deeply affects me. Like many others with Iranian backgrounds I carry an oppressive sense of helplessness mixed with a kind of guilt. We live in freedoms here that people in Iran are still denied. This feeling has always been present but since the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022 it became clear to many of us that a point of no return had been reached.

The brief wave of global solidarity was quickly followed by the sobering realization that in the end it seems no one truly cares and that the world as so often before looks away. What frustrates me most about the current media coverage is how superficial it often is creating the impression that people are taking to the streets only because of economic conditions. In reality it is about much more than that. It is a clear rejection of the regime and the desire for a fundamental political change for many even tied to the hope of the return of the son of the last Shah.

For the first time in a long while despite everything I feel hopeful again that this time it might actually succeed.

Statement by Azin

In the days of the Iranian national revolution we are confronted with a flood of distortions and censorship. German politicians either remain silent or when they speak up prevent the publication of images showing clear slogans calling for the return of Pahlavi and Javid Shah. In doing so the civil rights of Iranians are restricted.

At the same time mainstream media and corporations have shamelessly portrayed this revolution as an ethnic uprising filtered through the postcolonial perspective of the radical left. For Iranians this ethnic framing of the revolution is equivalent to separatism. Therefore Iranians across the country place their hopes solely on Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi as a reliable alternative. They do not want to lose the bonds of thousands of years of peaceful coexistence.

For this reason we drafted a petition that has so far been signed by more than two thousand people. In this petition I criticized disinformation and media censorship and argued that all political currents opposing the Islamic Republic should be given equal opportunity and that media coverage should not be limited to the dominant leftist media class.

On January eighth our nation answered the call of Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi. Millions of Iranians took to the streets. This is likely the largest protest of Iranians in the history of this ancient country. The internet has been shut down since last night but images are emerging showing that the people have triumphed over the oppressors.

Witness Account by Lauren

In the Iranian capital a doomsday clock counts down to the destruction of Israel. In a twist of fate and irony that clock may still be ticking but for a very different Armageddon.

Liberation is sweeping the Middle East from the tunnels of Gaza to the bazaars of Tehran. I was there for one of these moments. There are countless non events in a news cycle that never sleeps. This however is a where were you when moment. The arrest of Maduro was a clear warning shot to the allies of the Islamic Republic. Tomorrow we could wake up to a different Persia. King Cyrus is alive.

Tribute by Turku

As a Turkish woman watching the fight of Iranian women fills my eyes with tears of hope. Since my childhood we were always told that we must fight so we do not become like Iran. Today I say something different. We must not give in to an Islamic regime but we must be like the Iranian people.

Salute to all women who resist. May their courage be our inspiration.

FREE IRAN!