For decades, Iran’s ruling establishment has relied on repression, fear and an extensive security apparatus to preserve its grip on power. Yet despite executions, imprisonment and violent crackdowns, one force has repeatedly proved impossible to eliminate: the determination of Iranians who continue to demand fundamental political change.
At the centre of the regime’s system of control are the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Basij militia. These forces have played a central role in suppressing protests and intimidating communities whenever public anger has spilled into the streets. Their purpose extends beyond conventional security: they are essential instruments for protecting the ruling system against opposition from within Iranian society.
But repression has not produced lasting silence.
Successive waves of protests have demonstrated the depth of dissatisfaction across Iran. Women and young people have been particularly visible, while workers, students and other sectors of society have repeatedly challenged the authorities despite the enormous personal risks involved.
This persistence presents Tehran with a fundamental problem. A government can arrest demonstrators, restrict communications and attempt to prevent protests from spreading, but it cannot easily eliminate the grievances that continually bring people back onto the streets.
That is why the most important force confronting the Iranian regime is ultimately not a foreign army or military intervention. It is the Iranian people themselves.
Iran’s struggle should therefore not be viewed simply through the prism of international confrontation. Foreign governments understandably focus on nuclear ambitions, regional instability and Tehran’s military activities. But Iran also faces a profound internal struggle over the country’s political future.
Those seeking democratic change are confronting a state equipped with powerful security institutions and prepared to use severe punishment against its opponents. Political prisoners and protesters continue to face imprisonment and the threat of execution, making international attention to human rights particularly important.
The international community should stand with Iranians demanding basic freedoms while recognising that Iran’s political future ultimately belongs to its people.
Supporting human rights, condemning executions, holding perpetrators of serious abuses accountable and amplifying the voices of those struggling peacefully for freedom can strengthen the Iranian people’s ability to determine their own future.
The fundamental contest is therefore between two very different sources of power: a ruling establishment dependent on coercion and a population whose demands cannot permanently be extinguished by force.
History repeatedly demonstrates that repression has limits. Governments can imprison individuals and attempt to silence dissent, but ideas and aspirations are much harder to imprison.
Iran’s greatest potential for democratic transformation lies precisely there — in citizens who, despite enormous risks, continue to refuse silence and insist that their country can have a different future.