For the third week running, Iranians have taken to the streets in cities and towns across the country, driven by fury at corrupt, incompetent rulers who have bankrupted the nation and robbed people of hope. What began as economic protest over a collapsing rial has metastasized into a full-blown anti-regime uprising that refuses to be silenced.
Reports from multiple monitoring organizations and news agencies show the human cost is mounting, with hundreds killed and thousands detained as Tehran’s security apparatus responds with brutal force. These are not isolated scuffles; they are a nationwide crackdown on citizens demanding basic dignity and decent living standards.
The regime has tried to choke off the truth by cutting internet and phone service across wide swaths of Iran, a cowardly tactic used to hide massacres and hamper coordination among protesters. When a government resorts to information blackouts it reveals the weakness of its position and the depth of its fear.
Human rights organizations on the ground and abroad have documented unlawful shootings, beatings, and the weaponization of security forces against peaceful demonstrators and bystanders, including children. This level of state violence should unsettle every nation that claims to defend liberty and human dignity.
These protests were born in the bazaars and marketplaces—shopkeepers and merchants closing their doors in protest as inflation and economic collapse ate away their savings—and then spread to universities and neighborhoods across provinces. The unrest is rooted in real hardships: skyrocketing prices, a worthless currency, and a ruling class that answers only to itself.
Washington and free nations must not stand on the sidelines. World leaders and patriots should make clear that tyranny has a cost, and that the brave Iranians risking everything for freedom deserve moral and practical support from democracies that value human rights.
Americans who believe in liberty should watch closely and speak loudly; the struggle in Iran is a warning about where unchecked oligarchy and religious authoritarianism lead. Hardworking people everywhere recognize the courage it takes to confront a regime with guns and prisons, and we should be proud to stand with those who choose freedom over fear.
