Iran has been weakened militarily and economically. Citizens want change now.

Iran has a history of human rights violations

Credit: Shohreh Mirfendereski

Credit: Shohreh Mirfendereski

On human rights, the record is indisputable. Dozens of U.N. resolutions have condemned Tehran’s discrimination, torture, mass executions, and the silencing of women and minorities.

In 2024, former U.N. Special Rapporteur Javaid Rehman called for an international tribunal to hold the regime accountable for atrocity crimes, including the 1988 prison massacre, when more than 30,000 political prisoners were executed.

The 2022 death of Mahsa (Jina) Amini in morality-police custody ignited the “Women, Life, Freedom” uprising, exposing the regime’s brutality to the world.

Since then, investigators have documented ongoing arrests, torture, enforced disappearances, and targeted blinding of protesters.

The message from the streets is clear: Iranians reject this regime.

Exporting terror and instability

From its earliest days, the regime has also projected power through terror and proxy warfare. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its Quds Force have armed, trained, and financed militias across the region, forming what Tehran brands the “Axis of Resistance.”

Billions of dollars have been diverted to these groups while families face unemployment and inflation.

Hezbollah has grown stronger than the Lebanese army. Hamas, backed and praised by Tehran, carried out the Oct. 7 attacks against Israel.

The Houthis have disrupted global trade with strikes on Red Sea shipping, raising fuel and insurance costs and, ultimately, prices worldwide.

After the June 2025 12-Day War, which decimated key IRGC commanders, and with snapback restored, the regime is at its weakest and most isolated point in decades.

Where the resistance stands

Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran — the coalition that exposed Tehran’s secret nuclear sites — warned the European Parliament in 2004 that Western appeasement would only embolden Iran’s rulers and “ultimately impose war upon Western nations.”

Today, her warning has proved accurate. She not only warned the world, but also gave a solution, namely “The Third Option,” which meant regime change by the Iranian people, asking the Western countries to recognize the Iranian organized resistance and support it politically. She now argues that the regime is on the brink of collapse and that the era of compromise is over.

The Iranian people have paid the highest price. From the 1999 student protests and the 2009 Green Movement to the nationwide uprisings of 2017 and 2019 and the 2022 “Women, Life, Freedom” rebellion, Iranians show that society has moved beyond reform.

In 2019’s “Bloody November,” at least 1,500 protesters were killed; in 2022, some 22,000 were detained and thousands injured. Each cycle of repression has only deepened the people’s resolve.

Today, the choice is no longer between reform and hard-liners, nor between war and appeasement. The real choice is whether the international community will stand with a regime that thrives on terror and repression — or with a people who have risked everything for freedom.

Iranians neither ask for foreign boots on the ground nor the taxpayers’ money. They ask that the world stop funding and legitimizing their oppressors and recognize their right to decide Iran’s future.

With the regime weakened, sanctions restored and a courageous population still defiant, a democratic, secular, non-nuclear republic in Iran is not a dream. It is a possibility — if the world chooses to stand on the right side of history.

Shohreh Mirfendereski is a retired teacher in DeKalb County. She has previously written commentary on democratic advocacy for Iran.