Iranians who have fled the rogue theocratic nation said lasting peace can only be achieved by overthrowing the brutal regime, which they slammed as a “cancer.”
As Iran and the US enter a fragile, two-week cease-fire, Iranian dissidents abroad feel a mix of hope and anxiousness as they pray that the 40 days of war has weakened the Islamic Republic enough to be finally toppled by its people.
Shiva Mix, an Iranian who moved to Minnesota in 2000, touted the war in Iran as a way to deal with the “cancer” that is the Islamic regime, likening it to a painful, but necessary treatment.
”No one wants to get diagnosed with cancer. They don’t want that. But [the] Islamic Republic — we got diagnosed with cancer, and … it’s killing us,” Mix told MPR News.
Reza Pahlavi, Iran’s exiled crown prince who has repeatedly called for its people to revolt against Tehran, said in an address to the country on Wednesday that news of the cease-fire was disheartening.
Despite President Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s insistence that a new regime was now running Iran, there has been no indications that the Islamic Republic plans to stray from the practices of its slain predecessors.
Pahlavi, however, said the strategic killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and dozens of his top officials can pave the way for the end of the regime.
“The blows struck against the Islamic Republic in just 40 days are unprecedented, and irreparable for this regime,” Pahlavi said. “The elimination of Ali Khamenei, the killer of tens of thousands of brave Iranians, is in itself a historic achievement for our nation.
“The Islamic Republic is more isolated and despised in the region and the world today than ever before,” he added, describing Tehran’s willingness to enter into a cease-fire as a form of the regime’s “complete surrender.”
Maryam Rajavi, the president of the US-based National Council of Resistance of Iran opposition group, said lasting peace “can only be achieved through the overthrow of the terrorist and warmongering dictatorship.”
“Welcoming the ceasefire and expressing hope that it will lead to the end of the war and pave the way for peace and freedom,” Rajavi wrote on X.
Despite supporting the war against the regime, both Rajavi and Pahlavi contend that the only way to bring an end to the Islamic Republic — after a 47-year reign of terror — is for the people of Iran to rise up.
“Have faith that no force in the world can stand against the power of a united nation,” Pahlavi said. “This time, the Islamic Republic has no escape route, no chance for survival; and by the mighty hands of you, the great nation of Iran, it will be overthrown.”
It, however, remains difficult for Iran’s dissidents to rise up against the regime amid a total communications black out and lack of leadership inside the isolated country.
Many Iranians are still feeling the sting of the brutal crackdown in early January that saw Tehran’s security forces mow down anti-regime protesters, leaving more than 7,000 dead, according to human rights groups, though thousands more are still under investigation.
The death toll could be as high as 36,500 people, according to the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran.
While both Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have also called for an uprising in Iran, both admit there is not much everyday Iranians can do against Tehran’s heavily armed security forces.
One Tehran resident said the war has only left the regime momentarily wounded, with its brutal rule likely to remain in place for the foreseeable future.
“But in reality nothing changed for the people in Iran.”
