Iran Unchained: How the Islamic Republic Holds Power and Why Protests Keep Returning | Sana Ebrahimi & Ameen Soleimani

What It Covers

Iranian activists Sana Ebrahimi and Ameen Soleimani explain how Iran's Islamic theocracy operates as a terrorist organization rather than a legitimate government. They detail the regime's systematic oppression of women, execution of protesters, propaganda networks in Western institutions, and why Iranians continue risking death to protest despite brutal crackdowns that have killed over 30,000 people in recent uprisings.

Key Questions Answered

• •Islamic Theocracy Structure: Iran operates under clerical rule where Supreme Leader Khamenei holds divine authority that overrides parliament, courts, and the president. The system creates a circular power structure where Khamenei appoints a council that then selects the supreme leader, with no elected officials involved. Presidential candidates must be approved by this council before running, eliminating any possibility of democratic opposition. This structure differs fundamentally from a republic and functions as totalitarian control justified through religious doctrine.
• •Revolutionary Promises Betrayed: Khomeini's 1979 revolution promised independence, freedom of speech, justice, economic development, and human dignity. Instead, Iran's currency collapsed from 7 riyals per dollar to 1.5 million riyals per dollar, inflation runs at 40 percent annually, and citizens lack electricity and water for hours daily. The regime immediately executed Marxist allies who helped them gain power, established gender apartheid, and created mandatory hijab laws. This generational rug pull demonstrates how authoritarian regimes use populist promises to seize power.
• •Gender Apartheid System: Women in Iran cannot hold certain positions, face official pay gaps, need husband permission to leave the country or divorce, and lose custody rights in divorce proceedings. National abortion bans exist under all circumstances. Women require two male witnesses or four female witnesses to prove crimes like adultery. Universities maintain separate entrances for men and women with dress code enforcement that prevents entry for nail polish or short clothing. This systematic second-class citizenship extends to execution practices where virgin women are forcibly married and raped before execution.
• •Internet Blackout Strategy: The regime shuts down internet access during protests to prevent documentation of massacres, control internal and external narratives, and eliminate hope among protesters. With only tens of thousands of Starlinks in a country of 90 million, most Iranians cannot communicate or receive information about international support. The regime uses this blackout period to concentrate maximum cruelty while preventing accurate casualty counts, knowing Western attention spans will move on before the internet returns and evidence surfaces.
• •Western Propaganda Networks: Organizations like the National Iranian American Council founded by Trita Parsi actively promote regime propaganda in American media outlets including New York Times, Financial Times, CNN, and BBC. These networks claim protests are economically motivated due to Western sanctions, describe protesters as armed CIA or Mossad agents, and downplay massacres. Islamic studies programs funded through Qatar and other sources at universities including Princeton, NYU, Columbia, and Yale employ former regime diplomats who teach anti-Western narratives to students.
• •Regional Destabilization Operations: Iran spends resources on proxy militias including Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis, and groups in Syria and Iraq rather than domestic infrastructure. The regime engineered October 7th to prevent Saudi Arabia from joining the Abraham Accords, which would have established peace between Israel and the Sunni Muslim leader. General Soleimani personally managed Iraq after the US intervention, calling American generals to claim credit for IED attacks. Eliminating the Islamic Republic would end funding for regional terrorism and allow secular factions to gain power.
• •Diaspora Success and National Identity: Ten million Iranians live abroad, with 95 percent of graduates from top universities like Sharif leaving due to lack of opportunity under the regime. This highly educated diaspora succeeds wherever they settle but maintains strong nationalist identity spanning 2,500 years of continuous borders. Unlike Afghanistan or Iraq, Iran has multiethnic unity with Kurds, Persians, and other groups sharing common history. The diaspora would return to rebuild if regime change occurred, similar to pre-1979 when American-educated professors returned home.