For decades, I have stood against the clerical regime in Iran, bearing witness to its unbroken record of brutality and betrayal. To many observers abroad, each new wave of protests or economic collapse seems like a fresh crisis. But to us who have resisted from day one, there is nothing new about it. This regime has never cared for the welfare of the Iranian people; from the first day it seized power, it declared war on its own citizens. It has always been the greatest enemy of Iran.
The mullahs’ priority has never been bread for the hungry, jobs for the unemployed, or dignity for the people. Their priority has always been guns, prisons, and gallows. They have looted Iran’s wealth to fund terror abroad and maintain a stranglehold at home.
Today, even as bread prices soar and families struggle to survive, the regime funnels billions into its military machine and its repressive security forces. And when Iranians dare to speak out, they are met with batons, bullets, and the noose, a grim indication of a regime that fears its citizens more than international pressure.
A budget of fear
And yet, in the face of out-of-control destitution, the regime in Tehran persists in pouring an avalanche of resources into the hands of its security organs. State funds continue to flow most generously to the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), to its far-flung militias spreading extremist ideology abroad, and to pervasive domestic surveillance.
At the same time, salaries are stagnant while inflation eats up purchasing power. In this environment, the cost of bread is more than a statistic – it is a portent of despair.
That the regime slashes subsidies for basics while spending billions on its armed forces is no coincidence. This lopsided equation says much about who this government is really scared of.
When silence is not submission
But the Iranians are not backing down. In the shadow of state repression, Resistance Units have arisen instead – small, loosely organized groups of agitators in cities and towns throughout the country. Their arsenal: courage. Their aim: to persuade the world that Iran’s revolution did not culminate in 1979 but was instead hijacked, and that it must start anew.
The regime understands this. It knows that there’s nothing more dangerous than a free and awakened population. That is why it does not answer the demands of the people but responds to them with mass arrests, torture, home invasions, and kangaroo courts. That is why we are back to public executions, designed to terrify the people into submission: a spectacle, not justice.
The spectacle delivers – but only to a point. Every execution, every raid, only reinforces the determination of ordinary Iranians to stand up to the ruling dictatorship.
The world’s dangerous complacency
Beyond Iran, other international players are still set on the treacherous course of appeasement – based on the incorrect assumption that economic incentives or diplomatic gestures can somehow moderate the regime. But the regime does not seek moderation. It has only one will and that is to keep its power. It holds on to repression as a lifeline – even as it diverts its few resources to prop up that lifeline while its own people starve.
This is exactly where the international community must turn. The Iranians are not desperate for handouts, they are not asking for foreign military intervention. They are demanding recognition: of their right to resist, of their right to change their government, of the right to a future.
The third option: a solution is within reach
There is, fortunately, an alternative to complacency or war. Maryam Rajavi, president of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, has articulated the ‘third option’, ensuring against the failure of appeasement and the chaos of foreign war. This approach supports actively co-operating in Iranian-led democratic change.
The plan is based on a 10-point vision that aims for a secular republic, gender equality, human rights, free media, nuclear disarmament, and peaceful ties with neighbours, among other objectives. It is based on empowering voices in Iran – bolstering Resistance Units and international solidarity and exerting principled pressure.
To the world: this is not an academic exercise. This is a moment of clarity. Through choosing the third option, governments can move from being passive observers to one of principled allies. They can blacklist the IRGC, decry public executions, sanction the perpetrators, and amplify the work of diaspora-based activists. These are low-to-moderate hanging fruit that have great moral and strategic significance.
A personal call to action
In Tehran and Mashhad, alleys with graffiti state: “We will not rest until we are free.” I have spoken to grieving parents who have buried their children after mass protests, yet still believe in a better tomorrow. I’ve seen the fierce hope in the eyes of an activist who knows she may be next.
These encounters matter. They remind me – and should remind the world – that this isn’t abstract geopolitics. It is the lived history of a people demanding freedom.
So, I tell policymakers, journalists, human rights advocates: no longer look at Iran as a diplomatic black box. Stand with its people. Support their right to resist. Validate their demands. And most important, know that we are not helpless – we are fighters. It is the regime that is shaking in fear.
