The burning wreckage of Ayatollah Khamenei’s regional ambitions is plain for all to see, with the collapse of Tehran’s proxy networks, the retreat of influence in Iraq and Syria, and the stinging economic toll of years of needless confrontation.
The Iranian people have emerged with a simple, resolute message: enough is enough.
The war will come to an end, but the real struggle—for liberty, for peace, for a future beyond dictatorship—will then begin.
Khamenei’s strategic misadventure, sold to the public as patriotic resistance to the West and a defence of Islam, has drained Iran’s lifeblood. While the Supreme Leader’s Revolutionary Guards enriched themselves and funded militant groups from Gaza to Beirut, ordinary Iranians endured staggering inflation, widespread poverty, and the suffocation of any political dissent. The cost of this ruinous agenda? Analysts estimate over two trillion dollars—squandered on ideological warfare and regional domination rather than on schools, hospitals, or jobs for the youth.
Yet the regime’s pyrrhic victories have faded quickly. Its regional influence is receding. Its economy is battered. And most importantly, its people—oppressed for over four decades—are beginning to speak with clarity and courage. They want a nation that no longer exports terror, no longer persecutes its own, and no longer silences the aspirations of millions.
At the centre of this awakening stands a voice that Tehran has long tried to suppress: the Iranian Resistance. And among its most prominent leaders is Mrs Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).
The NCRI, founded in 1981, is a broad-based coalition of Iranian dissidents united in their opposition to the clerical regime.
Headquartered in exile, the organisation represents a secular, democratic alternative, advocating a ten-point plan that includes universal suffrage, gender equality, an independent judiciary, and a non-nuclear Iran.
Rajavi’s vision has gained increasing international traction—especially her call for a “Third Option”: no to appeasement, no to war, yes to regime change. This is not the language of foreign invasion or outside manipulation. Rather, it is a call for supporting the Iranian people in their own quest to end the theocracy that has strangled their country for generations. It is a call to stop legitimising a regime that murders women for showing their hair, imprisons students for tweeting, and sends children to the gallows in the name of God.
Indeed, for too long, Western capitals have toggled fecklessly between accommodation and confrontation. Barack Obama’s nuclear deal poured billions into Tehran’s coffers with little regard for internal repression. Donald Trump’s sanctions lacked coordination and offered no political alternative. The result? A regime emboldened abroad and ever more ruthless at home.
It is time, at last, to shift course—and stand with the Iranian people.
The wave of recent protests, from Tehran to Tabriz, has shown the depth of public anger. Chants of “Death to the dictator” and “We don’t want an Islamic Republic” have reverberated in the streets. In response, the regime has done what it always does: crackdown, kill, and cover up. Yet the fear is no longer one-sided. Today, it is the clerics who look over their shoulders.
And it is not just students or activists who are rising. Strikes by oil workers, demonstrations by pensioners, and widespread acts of civil disobedience suggest a national consensus is forming. A nation long suppressed is stirring.
Britain, and the West more broadly, must now make a decisive choice. Will we continue to shake hands with tyrants for the sake of short-term stability? Or will we stand up for our values and for a people who share them?
Regime change is not a dirty word. Not when it is the people themselves who demand it. Not when the alternative is the continuation of a medieval dictatorship armed with missiles, militiamen, and martyrdom.
A free Iran is not only possible—it is necessary. Not just for the sake of Iranians, but for the broader cause of peace and stability in the Middle East. Only when Tehran is ruled by a government that respects its own people can it ever respect its neighbours or international law.
Khamenei’s empire of repression has crumbled. His grand project lies in ruins. And the voices rising from the streets of Iran are clear: they want freedom, not Fatwas; ballots, not bullets. It is time for Europe to listen—and to act.
Khamenei must go. Iran must be free.
