The Iranian nation is seeking to reclaim its stolen dignity and stand against the theocracy that has ruled by deception and blood.

In the heart of the Middle East, a storm long postponed now gathers force. For nearly half a century, the Islamic Republic of Iran has cloaked itself in religion while unleashing terror, repression and chaos. It has deceived the world, brutalized its own people and exported violence across continents. And through it all, the West hesitated—paralyzed by illusions, appeasement and self-interest. But now, the axis of patience has begun to crack. The alliance between American and Israeli leadership signals a seismic shift: a confrontation not with the Iranian people, but with the decaying empire of the mullahs who have hijacked their nation. This is not merely a clash of states; it is a reckoning with a theocratic regime whose time has come.

In the tribunal of history, certain figures from the free world will be judged for their silence and inaction in 1979, when the West shamefully lost Iran to a Soviet-aligned theocracy. No one rose to defend one of the world’s oldest civilizations. But there is little doubt that some global media outlets will one day be held accountable for perpetuating the lies that built the false, sanctified image of blood-soaked dictators like Ruhollah Khomeini and Ali Khamenei. Whether through deliberate complicity or reckless ignorance, they served as tools of Tehran’s propaganda machine and its loathed international lobbies—elevating criminals into saints and rewriting tyranny as resistance.

For 46 years, Iran’s religious dictatorship has committed every imaginable crime against its people and the world. From storming the American Embassy in 1979 to bombing U.S. and Israeli missions, and from orchestrating assassinations abroad to building a vast mafia of transnational terrorist groups—Hezbollah, Hamas, Hashd al-Sha’bi, Islamic Jihad the Houthis—the regime has trained, armed and unleashed its proxies to spill the blood of American soldiers and Israeli civilians alike. And for 46 years, much of the world has slumbered.

European diplomats have shaken hands with murderers, smiled for cameras alongside butchers and celebrated hollow agreements with a regime that thrives on deceit. Some even expected accolades for their naive diplomacy. Across successive U.S. administrations, presidents have failed to take meaningful action, resorting instead to writing polite letters to tyrants drenched in the blood of their own people.

From the bleak winter of 1979 to today, the Iranian people have risen in nearly 20 national uprisings—each a cry against oppression, murder, corruption and dictatorship. Yet every time, these anti-regime uprisings have been met with brutal force from a regime that cloaks itself in divine authority, calling its leaders “representatives of God” or ayatollah, while massacring the very people they claim to lead. The global media watched. World leaders, especially in the 21st century, clung to the childish hope that perhaps this barbaric regime could be coaxed into coexistence on the global stage.

What future historians will write is unclear. But what is certain is this: the regime of the Islamic Republic has been extraordinarily fortunate. At times, the United States literally airlifted money to them. European governments offered protection to regime operatives disguised as diplomats or academics. Some of their terrorists, even after committing crimes on foreign soil, were released from prison, dressed in expensive suits and sent home with honor.

Yet now, finally, the tide seems to be turning. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump now recognize the need to confront a deranged, warmongering tyrant like Khamenei. Whether or not they are joined by Europe, these two leaders recognize that the existence of the Islamic Republic is incompatible with the survival of Israel, and indeed, with global peace.

They have begun to grasp a painful but essential truth: this mafia regime is not Iran. It does not represent the Iranian people. It is a puppet occupying entity—serving the interests of communist China and imperialist Russia while directing its hatred and violence toward America, Israel and the West.

This understanding did not come easily. It took 46 years of bombings, hostage crises, assassinations, terrorism and bloodshed. But however delayed, the countdown to the regime’s collapse has begun—and millions of disillusioned Iranians are watching.

The Pentagon has deployed a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East. Trump and Netanyahu are embarking on a path that may ultimately lead to the dismantling of Islamic terrorism—a path as significant to human history as the fall of Nazism, communism and apartheid.

Yet the lunatic dictator of Iran, Khamenei—the so-called supreme leader of Islamic terrorism—remains committed to annihilation. He would rather see Iran razed to the ground and its 86 million citizens
sacrificed than relinquish power. This is the very nature of the mullah’s mind: deceitful, fanatical, parasitic. But today, Iran’s younger generation rejoices in his humiliation. They know this war was not provoked by the people but by Khamenei himself. He is not Iran. He symbolizes only its misery and its chains.

Now, the shameless, manipulative and brazen dictator of Tehran finds himself in the final minutes of this game. His regime is decaying by the day. The circle of loyalists around him grows smaller. Iran’s complex and multilayered society is on the brink of eruption. A 20th national uprising looms as the long-suffering, betrayed and embittered people of Iran await only the right moment.

As Nowruz, the Persian New Year, begins, the people of Iran gather at the tombs of their national classic poets—Hafez, Khayyam, Ferdowsi—and at the grave of Cyrus the Great. Through social media, they send defiant messages across the nation, rooted in a spirit of patriotism and nationalism that the regime has long feared. These acts are more than symbolism—they are declarations. The regime has lost the people.

The Iranian nation is seeking to reclaim its stolen dignity. It is ready to rebuild its shattered identity. And in doing so, it stands against the theocracy that has ruled by deception and blood. Khamenei fears this rising tide more than he fears America or Israel. For he knows that once the people awaken, his reign will be buried by history.

Netanyahu and Trump now face a difficult, multilayered war. But crucially, they are confronting a bankrupt, blustering, delusional dictatorship. They do so with a deepening understanding of Iran’s internal political anatomy—the gulf between the regime and the people. And despite the noise, neither China nor Russia will go to war to save their crumbling servant in Tehran.

The fate of a 5,500-year-old civilization cannot be left in the hands of zealots who trade blood for power. What Netanyahu and Trump now confront is not Iran, but the grotesque shadow that has ruled it—a clerical regime alien to its people and hostile to the world. The battle ahead is not easy, but it is just. For the Iranian people, long betrayed and silenced, the countdown has begun. From the tombs of poets to the voices rising on social media, the nation cries not for war but for liberation. When the curtain finally falls on Tehran’s dishonorable theocracy, it will not only mark the end of an era of terror, but the rebirth of Iran itself. And the world will remember who stood with its people, and who remained silent as history called.

Erfan Fard is a counter-terrorism analyst and Middle East Studies researcher based in Washington, D.C.