Iran Has Lost All Legitimacy — The Free World Must Act

There comes a point when moral ambiguity ends.

Iran has crossed it.

Following weeks of demonstrations by tens of thousands of Iranian citizens across multiple cities, the regime did what it always does when its grip on power weakens — it turned its weapons on its own people. Soldiers and security forces were ordered to fire on unarmed civilians. Protesters were hunted, arrested, disappeared, and executed.

A government that murders its own citizens forfeits any claim to legitimacy.

The exact death toll is deliberately obscured by the regime. Official figures whisper “a few thousand.” Independent reports, leaked footage, eyewitness accounts and intelligence assessments suggest the number may be far higher — possibly multiple tens of thousands. As always with totalitarian regimes, the truth will emerge slowly, but the direction is unmistakable.

This was not law enforcement.
This was not crowd control.
This was mass political violence.

Once a regime uses its military to murder its own people, it has no right to sit among the community of nations. In an ideal world, such a regime would be instantly isolated. Trade would cease. Diplomatic recognition would be withdrawn. The leadership would be removed, and the people freed to decide their own future.

But we do not live in an ideal world.

Authoritarian regimes survive precisely because they know democracies hesitate. They rely on process, delay, hand-wringing, and the fiction that “stability” is preferable to justice. Iran’s rulers have mastered this game. They chant about sovereignty while exporting terror. They demand non-interference while executing children in the streets.

At some point, hesitation becomes complicity.

Iran’s regime is not merely oppressive at home — it is a global exporter of terrorism. Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Houthis, Shiite militias across the Middle East — all funded, trained, and directed by Tehran. The same hands that pull triggers in Iranian streets arm proxies that murder civilians abroad.

This is not a regional problem. It is a civilisational one.

The buildup to decisive action has been relatively fast, and it is now largely in place. Militarily, politically, strategically — the window is open. What remains is not capability, but will.

The United States and its allies face a stark choice: continue pretending that sanctions and statements will restrain a fanatical theocracy, or finally accept that the Iranian people cannot free themselves while the regime controls the guns.

History is unkind to those who watched and did nothing.

Saving Iran’s people does not mean occupying their country. It means removing a murderous regime that has proven it will never reform, never moderate, and never stop killing to preserve power. The Iranian people have shown extraordinary courage. They have done their part. They have risen, knowing the cost.

Now it falls to the free world.

I do not make this argument lightly. War is always tragic. But there is a difference between war and surrender — and allowing a terrorist regime to butcher its own citizens while we issue statements is surrender by another name.

Once a government wages war on its own people, it becomes an enemy of humanity.

The mad mullahs are clinging to power through bloodshed. The Iranian people deserve better. And for once, the world has the opportunity — and the responsibility — to act.

I, for one, am voting for action.