The Iranian uprising that began on 28 December 2025 has shown a level of bravery that has inspired awe and admiration worldwide. It differs sharply from previous uprisings for two key reasons: it has been organised, enabling rapid expansion across hundreds of cities and thousands of locations in a short time, and it has been openly confrontational. Rebellious youth and Resistance Units have been directing protests and clashing with heavily armed security forces and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to defend people in the streets. This has included pushing back the IRGC, disarming some of them, setting fire to government centres and vehicles, and in some cases holding parts of Iranian cities for many hours.
At the core of this mobilisation is the resistance network linked to the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI/MEK), which has played a decisive role in mobilising protesters, coordinating actions, and sustaining momentum when the state has relied on mass killings, arrests, and fear to crush dissent. Many have been killed while defending demonstrators, including Naeem Abdollahi, 34, a university professor, and Zahra Bohlouli Pour, 18, a university student. In Persian, this network is known as Kanoon haye Shooreshi, or Resistance Units.
A campaign of terror
The regime’s response has been a campaign of calculated terror designed to break a nation through bloodshed. Thousands have been killed and tens of thousands arrested, with security forces raiding hospitals, abducting wounded protesters and killing the wounded with execution style shots. Many doctors and medical staff who treated the wounded have been arrested and some are now on death row. Detainees were tortured to death after arrest, beheaded, thrown from buildings, burned or mutilated to prevent identification. Children were killed, including infants shot in their mothers’ arms; and women deliberately targeted with gunshots aimed at their genitals. These are acts that amount to crimes against humanity and genocide and reflect a deliberate strategy, ranking among the worst modern atrocities, to terrorise a nation into silence.
This level of atrocity is not proof of control but a sign of weakness, the reflex of a blood-soaked dictatorship with no answers left except violence. Despite the scale of arrests and deaths, the uprising has not been extinguished; it has shifted into a ‘hit-and-run’ phase precisely to puncture the regime’s atmosphere of terror and to keep public courage alive.
Almost every family in Iran has now been directly affected, having lost a relative, friend, or colleague who was killed, injured, or disappeared during the protests. Iranian society is now a powder keg ready to ignite again with a single trigger, and the next uprising will not be limited to demonstrations but will bring an even sharper confrontation with the regime’s repressive forces.
Regime change is the goal
The demand across Iran is clear and non-negotiable: the regime must go. The goal is regime change. There is also a firm red line against any return to the old monarchical system associated with the Pahlavi family. This was reflected in the chants in the streets across Iran: “Down with the Oppressor, be it the Shah or the Mullah”.
That red line matters because the regime has not relied only on violence. It has also relied on deception and division. The regime has planted monarchist slogans and manufactured support for Reza Pahlavi, the son of the former dictator, to fracture the movement and divert anger away from the core demand of regime change.
Some Persian language television channels in London, including Iran International and Manoto TV, have also been accused of pushing Reza Pahlavi by dubbing protest videos and broadcasting footage with altered audio, an act which would be in breach of Ofcom rules. Original chants have allegedly been removed and replaced with pro-Pahlavi voiceovers, creating the impression that young people risking their lives are calling for a return of the old dictatorship. Such acts would constitute blatant deception, designed to promote a convenient figurehead for foreign interests, rather than a genuine democratic alternative chosen by Iranians.
No to external military influence
Against this backdrop, calls for foreign war or military strikes miss the reality on the ground. Iran does not need outside war; it already has a well organised, nationwide resistance network prepared to confront the regime from within, with an established platform outside Iran in the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), led by Maryam Rajavi. The NCRI presents a clear road map for the day after, including Rajavi’s Ten Point Plan, and is committed to holding elections within six months of regime change, transferring power to the people’s representatives who will then draft a new constitution.
What the Iranian people need from the West is firmness, not war. On 29 January, the European Union designated the IRGC a terrorist organisation, an overdue step after decades of appeasement. Rajavi, as president-elect of the NCRI, says this must trigger urgent measures: closure of the regime’s embassies, expulsion of its diplomats and agents of the IRGC and the Ministry of Intelligence, cutting off the regime’s financial lifelines, recognising the right of Iran’s youth to defend themselves against the IRGC, and support regime change by the Iranian people and their organised resistance.
These demands will be echoed at a major rally planned for Saturday 7 February in Berlin, set to be the largest Iranian diaspora demonstration in Europe. Tens of thousands are expected to attend, travelling from across the continent, including from towns and cities across the UK, to deliver a message to the international community: the only realistic and practical response to the Iran crisis is regime change by the Iranian people and their organised resistance, with clear demands of no to foreign war, no to appeasement, and no return to past dictatorships.
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