Information on the current mood on the Iranian street can be found here: “Iran fears US strike could break Islamic regime’s grip on power by reigniting protests, sources say,” Jerusalem Post, February 2, 2026:
During the early January protests, witnesses and rights groups said, security forces crushed demonstrations with lethal force, leaving thousands killed and many wounded. Tehran blamed the violence on “armed terrorists” linked to Israel and the US….
The Iranians who joined the protests could see for themselves that their fellows were not “armed terrorists,” but people much like themselves, fed up with the regime’s misallocation of resources and mishandling of the economy, that condemned so many of them to live in poverty in a country that was once, and could be again, so rich.
In a post, the supreme leader claimed that “seditionists in Iran burned people alive. They beheaded people. They committed the very same atrocities that Islamic State committed.”…
The supreme leader knows that almost all of the protesters were unarmed, that they did not “burn people alive” nor “behead” anyone. Fewer than 200 Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps operatives and police died during the protests, while almost 40,000 protesters were killed and 330,000 wounded in January.
The rulers in Iran are terrified of their own people, whose anger deepens by the day. All they know about how to handle the situation is suppression with an armed fist, and uttering nonsense and lies about those — roughly 85% of the Iranian people, according to opinion polls — who want to see the regime end. The protesters are dismissed as tools of the Americans and the “Zionists.” No one believes this tale.
When a former president, Hassan Rouhani, says that only with “major reforms” will the regime have a chance to survive, when a former prime minister, Mir Hossein Mousavi, goes even farther, in saying that there is nothing the regime can do to survive, because “the game is over” — meaning the end of the regime is at hand — and when in the last week, a former speaker of the Iranian parliament, Mehdi Karroubi, declares that “the depth of the tragedy [of protester deaths and injuries] is so deep that no excuse or justification can be accepted for this horrific and merciless massacre,” what must the less fanatical mullahs and military men now be thinking?
America’s “massive armada” has been assembled. The pressure on Trump to help the people of Iran to throw off their persecutors — to do what he promised to do if the killing did not stop, and while it has decreased it has not stopped — is growing. Clearly the Americans are going to do something with their ships, and fighter jets, and drones, and bombs. So they think about what they should do: “Should I go into hiding now? Should I do what many military men did in 1978, when they abandoned the Shah and made their peace with the protesters? I see the writing on the wall, and I’m not willing to take a bullet, or have my family harmed, for the supreme leader and his rotten regime. Time to signal to the opposition that I won’t oppose them.” And the defections have started, with the staffs of Iranian embassies abroad choosing to abandon their posts. Now we need members of the IRGC to defect to the opposition, as so many soldiers did in 1978 from the Shah’s army.
Some say that on Iran Trump is all hat and no cattle. I say that the regime is crumbling from within — see the remarks above from a former president, a former prime minister, and a former speaker of the Majlis — and Trump is wisely holding off his attack on Iran until it is clear to the world that Iran has no intention of meeting his demands, and until all of the defenses against Iranian ballistic missiles and drones are in place, around American military bases in the region, Saudi oilfields, and Israeli cities. And then the supreme leader, and the rest of the world, will see what the American military, unleashed, can do.
Billy says
Islam and its Muslims are totalitarian, terroristic, and supremacist against women, children, and all Non-Muslims as taught in Islam’s Qur’an(Qur’an 9:5, 29, 111; 49:15; 98:6-7, etc.). So, Muslims leaders must rule with an iron grip because the other Muslims can rise up to take power from the current rulers. This is everyday Islam where deceit, propaganda, gang power, intimidation, fear, etc. are the norm to control the people. In the West, we see this is hell on earth.
Islam functions like a Terrorist-Criminal-Gang Enterprise as evidenced by the continuous, Muslim attacks against Non-Muslims. Similar to a Foreign Terrorist Organization(FTO) designated by the USA Secretary of State, Islam and its Muslims are a MUSLIM TERRORIST ORGANIZATION(MTO) fighting against Non-Muslims to make Islam supreme and NOT A PEACEFUL religion under Western Law because Islam funds, teaches, and promotes Terrorist Criminal Organizations with Muslims as Terrorists for Allah(Qur’an 2:191; 4:89, 91; 9:5,29, 111; 45:18; 47:4; 49:15, etc.). Islam, its Organizations, its Mosques, its Schools, etc. must be banned as illegal for their funding, teaching, and promoting acts of discrimination, segregation, violence, and terrorism against Non-Muslims as taught in Islam’s Qur’an.
Muslims make false claims and deceitful exaggerations, breed a grievance mentality, and aggravate divisions among people in a manner that allows for justification of terroristic violence(Qur’an 3:28,54; 7:99; 8:30, etc.). Allah in Qur’an 49:15 says, “Surely the believers[Muslims] are only those who believed in Allah and his messenger. They do not doubt, and they performed jihad with their MONEY and their LIVES for the sake of Allah. Those are the truthful.” As a result, Non-Muslims are marked for death by Islam and its Muslims.
Allah describes Muslim women in Jenna, Allah’s Paradise, as whores of Allah in Qur’an 56:37. Also, Allah stirs hatred, cursing, and punishment against Christians until the resurrection day when Qur’an 5:14 instructs, “And some of those who say, ‘Surely we are Nasara (Christians),’ we took their covenant. So they have forgotten a part of what they were reminded of, so we have stirred up ENMITY and HATRED among them until the resurrection day. And Allah will inform them of what they were doing.” See also Qur’an 2:225; 5:64; 60:4; 8:55.
Allah demands extortion payments, ‘Jizyah’, from Non-Muslims to humiliate them and make Islam supreme. Allah in Qur’an 9:29 commands, “Engage in war with those who do not believe in Allah nor in the last day. Nor forbid what Allah and his messenger forbid, nor believe in the religion of the truth among those who have given the book until they pay the jizyah out of hand and they are subdued.”
Allah teaches and promotes discrimination when Qur’an 4:101 says, “…Surely the infidels(Non-Muslims) were your clear enemies.” Allah disrespects and detests Jews and Christians for not being Muslims by teaching discrimination and segregation. So, Allah’s apostle in Sahih Muslim 26:5389 says, “Do not greet the Jews and the Christians before they greet you and when you meet any one of them on the roads force him to the narrowest part of it[where excrement and trash flow].”
MUSLIM BELIEVERS are a greater TERROR than Allah while undermining a society from within using the man-made book of lies and deceit, the Qur’an. Allah in Qur’an 59:13 says, “You[Muslims] are a greater terror in their chests than Allah. This is because they[Jews & Christians] are people who do not understand.” Islam must be banned as illegal, and we have the legal right to defend ourselves from Muslim attacks and violence.
Walter Sieruk says
“Iran fears US strike could break Islamic regime’s grip on power by reigniting protests, sources say,” Jerusalem Post, February 2, 2026:
Those despots of that tyrannical Islamic regime should fear United States Air force weapon command centers and other strategic jihad murder locations which may contribute to that weakening the brutal and deadly grip on the people of Iran.
For that US jet fighter shooting down a drone launched by that was heading for a US Aircraft carrier is a good start. Nevertheless, much more might of a strong might of military force is and will be necessarily to aid the Iranian people in the righteous and just quest to free themselves from that brutal cruel oppressive and death –inflecting tyrannical Islamic regime, and then establish a genuine, legitimate government which would respect their basic human rights and freedom that all humans should have.
Walter Sieruk says
Those tyrants of that Islamic regime should, indeed, fear the righteous worth of the people of Iran. For when that tyranny falls, the Iranian people will be very justified when the give those evil men who had so such terrible oppressive and deadly power in Iran everything that those villains deserve. In this case the old saying, rightly applies, which is “What goes around comes around.” Likewise, it has also been said “Paybacks are hell.” Those dictators will reap the violence and death that they inflected on others.
David A Grisez says
There is one thing I hope does not happen. I do not want to see a negotiated settlement that keeps this Shite Ayatollah and Mullah leadership in power and control. The United States and Israel must do what is necessary to permanently remove this evil and wicked leadership from power and control.
Westman says
The armed terrorists are the IRGC and the “Don” of this alias “religious” charade, an actual Regime of protection-racket gangsters, is Khamenei.
He robbed the Iranian people of $30 Billion for Syria? That’s $30,000 Mlllion or:
$30,000,000,000 ! And you know the theft is much more. Gangsters don’t keep accurate public records.
That could have build de-salinization plants and pipelines for the thirsty residents and farms, but no, Khamenei imagines he has a personal edict from Allah and decides to hell with the people. It’s a given that dictators, doing evil things, never believe they are evil.
The Persians have gotten a true measure of Arab Islam and why it should never rule Persians.
James Lincoln says
The title of the feature article:
“The Rulers of the Islamic Republic of Iran Are Terrified of Their Own People”
Made me think of an analogy:
Leading Democrats in the United States are terrified of conservative, law-abiding, and patriotic Republicans.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
I think the only people the regime is terrified of are its residual supporters. I saw Armin Navabi and Goldie Ghamari discuss the negotiations w/ the US, and they pointed out that this was a no-win situation for them:
⮞ If they reject the US demands, chances are that they’ll be attacked by the US, and maybe Israel. A military collapse would be inevitably followed by the collapse of the regime. However….
⮞ If they accept the US demands, their credibility w/ their own supporters will be lost. While they’re themselves not stupid enough to believe their own lies about the US and Israel, their supporters are! If they agree, then their supporters would at best abandon them, and at worst, turn on them and lynch them, preventing them from even trying to escape anywhere. At least while rejecting the US demands, their supporters can help them flee to Paris or Moscow or wherever they deem safe
Tomorrow will be the negotiations at Muscat, and that’s the only explanation about why they have dug their heels on things like their nuclear program or their rockets that have already been destroyed. It’s so that their own supporters aren’t pissed at them when it’s all over
James Lincoln says
Excellent analysis.
No good options for the Iranian regime, and they are backed into a corner.
And that – in and of itself – is little bit scary…
John Smith says
seconded
Burnaby Lad says
they’ve been through worse ie: felching among men who engage in Barebacking (unprotected anal sex)