Iran’s next chapter must be written in freedom

The streets of Iran have spoken with a clarity that cannot be ignored. For weeks, protests have surged across the country, defying bullets, batons, and the machinery of repression. Tehran’s rulers responded with a ferocity that betrays their fear: mass arrests, violent crackdowns, and a chilling escalation of executions, more than 2,000 last year alone. More than 3,900 reportedly died, and 50,000 were arrested during this year’s uprising.  

The government’s bloody crackdown has chilled the protests, and while the regime, under pressure, has suspended executions, these are not the actions of a confident regime. They are the death throes of a system that has lost its legitimacy.

The Islamic Republic was built on the doctrine of velayat-e faqih, absolute clerical rule. That principle has become the