An Iranian-born lawyer and former Canadian lawmaker, Goldie Ghamari, delivered a stark warning in an exclusive Jerusalem Dateline interview with CBN News: Iranians are rising up and the regime’s crackdown may have produced casualty figures the world will not easily forget. Ghamari told CBN that activists inside Iran—despite brutal internet shutdowns—are reporting what she called at least 30,000 killed, a number she acknowledged is difficult to independently confirm but described as potentially the largest slaughter since 1979.
What we do know for certain is that Tehran has tried to hide the truth by cutting off communications and flooding the streets with brutal security forces, a tactic that makes independent verification nearly impossible and invites ugly comparisons to past atrocities. Eyewitness accounts and activist tallies vary widely, with some independent compilations placing the death toll in the thousands and others reporting far higher figures as the regime tightens its information chokehold.
This is not an isolated flare-up but the predictable result of a theocratic dictatorship that has relied on repression, mass arrests, and executions to stay in power for decades. International reporting and human-rights monitoring document a grim pattern: tens of thousands arrested in earlier uprisings, surges in executions, and punitive campaigns against women who refuse to bow to the regime’s religious edicts. Americans who care about freedom should see this for what it is—a regime rooted in violence, not legitimacy.
It is frankly shameful to watch too many Western elites and mainstream media treat this as a distant problem while brave Iranians bleed in the streets for liberty. Opinion leaders and our elected representatives must stop making excuses for tyrants and start applying real pressure—sanctions, asylum for dissidents, and public recognition that the theocratic regime has lost its moral authority. Healthy democracies have an obligation to stand with people fighting for basic human rights, not sit on the sidelines and offer platitudes.
Ghamari’s message was as blunt as it was hopeful: this uprising could be the breaking point and Iranians are willing to risk everything for freedom and a secular, democratic future. She even spoke about restoring pre-1979 relationships, including with Israel, and rallied behind figures who could lead a transitional government; that vision of a free Iran is one that should warm the hearts of anyone who values liberty over theocratic tyranny.
Hardworking Americans who believe in freedom cannot remain silent. Pray for those in Iran, yes, but also call on your representatives to act—demand tougher measures against the regime, support for independent media and communication tools to bypass Tehran’s blackouts, and safe haven for dissidents. The Iranian people are showing courage in spades; the least free nations and free peoples can do is stand with them until their day of deliverance arrives.
