The people of Iran have been trying to free themselves from the oppressive Islamic Republic for decades.
Tonight, hundreds of thousands of protesters are reported to be on the streets of Tehran, demanding the end to Khamenei’s brutal regime. And not just Khamenei. They want the mullahs gone.
A short time ago, the aging Ayatollah, Ali Khamenei, said:
‘We talk to protesters, the officials must talk to them. But there is no benefit to talking to rioters. Rioters must be put in their place.’
He then attempted to blame Israel and the US for what has always been a domestic rebellion against oppressive Islamic rule.
‘A bunch of people incited or hired by the enemy are getting behind the tradesmen and shopkeepers and chanting slogans against Islam, Iran, and the Islamic Republic. This is what matters most.’
These protests are being conducted on a massive scale at over 100 locations in the majority or Iran’s provinces. In other words, well beyond the scale of foreign influence.
Images of the Supreme Leader are being burned as masked protesters set billboards alight.
Acts of open defiance can be lethal if protesters are caught. It is thought at least 10 people have been killed so far.
This is not purely a regional issue. Iran is the epicentre of Islamic terror, funding many groups including Hamas which launched the October 7 attack on Israel.
It is an evil exported around the globe.
At least one pro-Palestinian on the Sydney Harbour Bridge march held a photo of Khamenei above current and former members of the Australian political landscape.
Much to everybody’s shame.
Iran’s mullahs are hated by many Iranians, especially the young, who have heard stories of what their nation used to be like before it was folded under the veil of totalitarian Islamic rule.
Protesters are shouting, ‘Death to Khamenei! Long live the Shah!’
By which they mean the former Shah of Iran’s son, Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, 65, who has been living in exile awaiting the revolution.
He remains the most visible and likely replacement, having sworn to champion democracy.
Were the Shah to return to power, it is expected Iran would once again become an ally of the West, flipping Middle Eastern politics. The Shah would seek the establishment of a democratic, liberal, secular Iran with Iranians given back the freedoms stolen from them by the Islamic Republic.
This is not the first uprising in Iran.
The murder of Mahsa Amini in 2022 led to protests against the Islamic Republic, especially for its treatment of women. Mahsa was viciously attacked by religious morality police for not wearing a hijab and beaten so badly that she died in hospital. Women lost their right to freedom following the revolution in 1979. Their rights continued to be eroded over the following years with Khamenei demanding that unveiled women should be made to feel ‘unsafe’ before pretending his words had been ‘misunderstood’.
During that protest, Iran had a firm hold of regional terror and little fear of outside military reprisals. Joe Biden was President of the United States… The protests were silenced by shutting down the internet to prevent communication. Soon after, pro-government forces were calling for those on the street to be executed while live-fire and tear gas were used on crowds. 1,500 (at least) were killed.
The international community and human rights activists did their usual muttering of disapproval. Nothing changed.
Things are very different in 2026. The US and Israel have severely damaged many of Iran’s regional terror operations with Hamas and Hezbollah both picking through the ruins.
Instead of Joe Biden, Khamenei has to deal with Donald Trump who told him several days ago that the US will show up and intervene if the Islamic Republic starts shooting protesters.
‘We are locked and loaded and ready to go…’ said Trump. ‘If Iran [shoots] and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue.’
Given the US is fresh from destroying Iran’s nuclear sites and taking Venezuela’s President hostage, the threat is hardly an empty one. If anything, the US is itching for the moral right to remove one of the most dangerous and destabilising regimes in modern times. Doing so would cut off the head of terror for good and allow other uprisings to finally succeed and bring nations back to democratic leadership.
Iran proved itself unable to defend its nuclear sites, and so it is unclear how seriously the US is taking the return threats of the Islamic Republic.
Khamenei has attempted some world champion level propaganda in recent days by attempting to paint the protests as being purely ‘economic’.
Yes, the economy is crashing, but it is doing so because of Iran’s obsession with terror and nuclear weapons. For its crimes, it has been ostracised by large parts of the global economy. A self-inflicted disaster which could be solved by a Western-aligned regime change that satisfies the dream of freedom nurtured by so many Iranians.
Human rights advocates, speaking anonymously, are calling it a true hunger revolution where the young are, quite literally, starving.
Australia has been exceedingly slow off the mark to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a state sponsor of terror in November of 2025. Despite this being obvious, it took a reactionary review by ASIO following ‘orchestrated attacks against Australia’s Jewish Community’ for them to finally get the message.
It is bewildering why it took so long for Australia to make this distinction, given Iran has been sponsoring Islamic terror groups for a long time, regionally and throughout the Western world. It wasn’t a secret.
The excuses offered are wholly unsatisfying and proven irrelevant given how swiftly the task was completed under public scrutiny.
Iran has taken the lives of so many people, all in the name of radical Islam. Were its regime to fall, it is likely peace would be given a greater chance of success. There is no hope for such an outcome while the mullahs pour fortunes into the coffers of terrorists.
