This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
The geopolitical momentum has intensified against the Iranian regime. Political and diplomatic pressure on Tehran is mounting steadily. An international consensus, led by Europe and the United States, is firmly opposing the mullahs' nuclear program. Preventing the Iranian regime from acquiring nuclear weapons remains a critical priority for global security. And a growing global alignment is targeting the regime's proxies.
In Lebanon, remnants of Hezbollah are being systematically dismantled by Lebanese national forces. Hamas has been condemned by the Palestinian Authority as a source of war and destruction in the region. Similarly, the Iraqi prime minister recently visited Iran to demand the disbandment of the Popular Mobilization Forces, or PMF, a key Iranian proxy in Iraq.
Meanwhile, acting on behalf of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, appeared on a major U.S. television network in an effort to downplay the regime's hostility toward America, even denying any plans to assassinate former President Trump.
At the same time, public support for Iran's domestic protest movements and uprisings continues to grow. At the most recent gathering of the Iranian opposition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, Ret. U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, Donald Trump's special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, expressed his support for NCRI's president-elect Maryam Rajavi and her 10-point plan, which envisions a democratic, non-nuclear Iran free of executions. Kellogg also emphasized the need for the United States to reimplement its "maximum pressure" policy, arguing that the Iranian regime must be subjected to heightened international scrutiny and pressure.
The mullahs at their weakest point
The Iranian regime, which has long relied on two pillars for its survival – exporting terrorism and military aggression abroad, and brutal repression at home – now finds one of these pillars severely weakened. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has described the Iranian regime as being at its weakest point since 1979. Similarly, Sen. Marco Rubio, nominated to become secretary of State under Trump, declared during a Senate hearing on Jan. 15 that the mullahs do not represent the Iranian people or the rich history of the nation.
With the collapse of the Syrian dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad, Iran has lost a major strategic foothold for its regional expansionism and military adventurism – a crippling blow to its influence. Hezbollah, long a tool of Iranian power in Lebanon, has been significantly weakened, as evidenced by Lebanon's recent election of a president after years of political deadlock. In Iraq, the government is taking steps to disarm the Popular Mobilization Forces, or PMF, an Iraqi state security service that serves largely as a front for Iran-friendly militias. This will further erode Tehran's regional leverage.
Domestically, the Iranian regime struggles to provide basic necessities, such as electricity and heating, to its citizens. Widespread power outages have forced schools and factories to stop working, leaving many Iranians without sufficient heat during a harsh winter. The Iranian currency remains among the weakest in the world, while the prices of basic food staples have quadrupled over the past decade.
Faced with mounting protests and widespread unrest, the regime has resorted to increasingly brutal measures. According to the NCRI, at least 1,000 executions were carried out by the regime last year alone as a means of suppressing dissent.
A regime in deadlock
From every perspective, the Iranian regime is cornered. This impasse has driven the mullahs to desperately lobby Western governments to continue their policy of appeasement. Over the past three decades, even when the regime was teetering on the brink of collapse, Western governments intervened to prop it up. This was evident during the 2009 uprisings and again during the 2022 protests. It was later revealed that U.S. emissaries were negotiating with the regime during both events.
Efforts by the Iranian regime to pursue nuclear weapons, its widespread use of executions domestically, and its violent activities in the region were met with inadequate responses from the international community. Similarly, the regime's tactics of hostage-taking and terrorism abroad have gone largely unchecked. This lack of accountability emboldened the regime, culminating in its orchestration of the Hamas-Israel war starting on Oct. 7, 2023.
A window for ending appeasement
Another pivotal moment in the history of Iran and the region has come. The Iranian people are ready to overthrow the regime. Thousands of resistance units, scattered across the country, are under the leadership of the NCRI and are poised to channel the ongoing protests and uprisings into a broader movement for real freedom.
Now is the time for the West to act decisively. The window for appeasement policies – which have just emboldened a regime responsible for plunging the region and the world into cycles of war and bloodshed – must finally be closed. A free, democratic and non-nuclear Iran without executions used as a tool of official repression would usher in lasting peace for the region and freedom for its people.
It is up to the international community to seize this historic opportunity. The stakes are immense, but the promise of a brighter future is within reach.
