Finish the Job

by Majid Rafizadeh  •  May 16, 2026

In 1979, 1999, 2009, 2017-2018, 2019, 2022, late 2025 and early 2026, the Iranian people rose up in massive nationwide protests against economic collapse, repression, and governance failures. Each time, the regime responded with ruthless massacres. Millions of unarmed civilians, no matter how courageous, cannot easily overcome such force.  Pictured: Iranian protestors.  Screengrab via Youtube [Cropped] 

• In 1979, 1999, 2009, 2017-2018, 2019, 2022, late 2025 and early 2026, the Iranian people rose up in massive nationwide protests against economic collapse, repression, and governance failures. Each time, the regime responded with ruthless massacres…

• Millions of unarmed civilians, no matter how courageous, cannot easily overcome such force.
• Iran’s regime continues its anti-American posture, support for proxies, and internal repression. It does not seek to reform, it seeks rearmament and revenge. Regime change is therefore not optional; it is essential.
• “If I were President Trump and I were Israel, I would load the Iranian people up with weapons so they could go to the streets armed, and turn the tide of battle inside Iran… Give them the weapons so they can rise up like we did to destroy this regime.” — US Senator Lindsey Graham, Fox News, May 4, 2026.
• Trump, too, noted that the Iranian people lack weapons to counter regime snipers and forces.
• There are situations where even mountains of diplomacy do not work. Did Germany’s Adolf Hitler or Japan’s Prime Minister Hideki Tojo disarm and reform?
• Let the Iranians themselves determine their future. This is the clear lesson from Iran’s repeated uprisings that were crushed by superior firepower, and the lesson of America’s own founding. The Iranian people have shown their will. Regime change through the Iranian people, empowered and protected, is the only durable solution.

Iran’s regime must be understood for what it is: a heavily armed group of thugs and, according to the US government, “the largest state sponsor of terrorism” 39 years in a row. Iran’s regime holds power through a brute force that terrorizes not only its neighbors and the broader world through proxies, ballistic missiles, and imminent nuclear capability, but also its own population of roughly 93 million. Decades of repression, of “exporting the revolution,” and ideological extremism have defined its identity, firmly rooted in anti-Americanism, anti-Semitism and contempt for its own citizens.

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