Like those who dreamed of one day seeing the Berlin Wall torn down, one of my long-time dreams has been to see the collapse of the Iranian regime in my lifetime. The idea of the Iranian people finally overthrowing the clerical dictatorship and establishing the democracy that they should have had in 1979, is something that those of us who have supported the democracy movement in Iran have anticipated for a very long time. Though there have been many serious anti-government protests in the past, none have had the inertia that this one has, and as international pressure mounts, it’s beginning to look like the last days of Ali Khameini’s Islamist regime.

This has not been without risk. Since the protests broke out toward the end of 2025, the cold-blooded use of lethal force by the Iranian security forces has been fully deployed. While the regime claims over 2,000 have been killed, anti-regime news website Iran International estimates the murder of over 12,000, along with another 10,000 people arrested. The internet blackout has smothered the massacre, cutting Iranians off from the rest of the world, and the international community have been forced to speculate about what dystopian horrors are happening.