Iranians Want Their Country Back

Civil disobedience, public demonstrations and strikes aim at a systemic collapse of the regime.

By Reza Pahlavi,  The Wall Street Journal

Aug. 15, 2018

Protesters at Tehran’s grand bazaar, June 25. PHOTO: IRANIAN LABOR NEWS AGENCY/ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Iranian people have a message: We want our country back.

As cities across Iran erupted in another round of nationwide protest against the Islamic Republic, a young man named Reza Otadi joined his neighbors on the streets of Karaj, northwest of Tehran. They shouted “Death to the dictator!” and “Clerics get lost!” Shortly thereafter, Reza was identified by the regime’s domestic-security apparatus. On the evening of Aug. 3, as he made his way home, regime security forces shot and killed him. He was 26.

We know only so much about Reza Otadi. We know that he was a shopkeeper and that he was engaged to be married. We know from hisTwitter profile that he tweeted only once, on May 22: “#IranRegimeChange—for freedom, a better life, tranquillity, emotional and economic security, and laughter without stress.” In this solitary, somber yet resolute tweet, Otadi captured the sentiments of an entire nation. Perhaps he knew, and saw no need to say anything more.

The protests in Iran are the latest chapter in an almost 40-year struggle. They are not just about economic grievances—“the price of eggs,” as some regime sympathizers have said. They are much broader in their scope and deeper in their objective than any single economic or social issue.

The national protest movement building in Iran recognizes and decries the social, political and economic injustices of life under the Islamic Republic. It understands them as symptoms of a single disease—the Islamic Republic, both its ideology and its structure. The Iranian protest movement targets the disease, not merely its symptoms, whether corruption or repression. My compatriots seek to put an end to the Islamic Republic not only because it is authoritarian, corrupt and incompetent, but because it is un-Iranian and anti-Iranian.

From its inception, the regime has sought to subvert Iran by transforming it from a nation into a cause. It changed our centuries-old flag. It discourages or prevents the teaching of our literature and history. It denies our people the right to gather for special occasions at the tombs of their heros, such as Cyrus the Great and Ferdowsi. Under its castelike system of religious and gender apartheid, it assigns each Iranian a particular legal and social status, with women and religious minorities occupying second, third or lower degrees of citizenship. In a land famous for its poetry and music, it has censored and at times brutally suppressed both.

Iranians have had enough. In the streets and across social media, the popular chant, “We will reclaim Iran even if we must die to do so,” reverberates with urgency and determination. Iranians want liberty, justice and opportunity, but they also want their country to enjoy dignity, pride and respect. They want to retake their rightful place among the community of nations. They want to be known and admired for the great cultural and scientific contributions of their ancient civilization. They want to be sought out by other countries as trusted friends and partners as they take charge of their own country and lead it into a new chapter of history. In short, my compatriots want to reclaim Iran from the Islamic Republic.

In February, the regime “celebrated” its 39th anniversary, never less popular or more in crisis. It faces multiple existential challenges simultaneously, all of its own creation: an economy in disarray, widespread environmental devastation, defections from the security forces, unprecedented nationwide protests and labor strikes, and, most significantly, an increasingly fearless population engaging in daily acts of resistance and rejection.

Like many authoritarian regimes, the Islamic Republic rules in fear of the people. It has responded to the latest wave of protests as it often does: by insulting, threatening, jailing, torturing and killing innocent Iranians. It has also slowed or shut off internet and telephone services in Tehran, Karaj, Qom and other cities in an effort to prevent the public from coordinating and from sharing their struggle, and the regime’s brutal response, with the outside world.

For decades I have advocated the establishment of a secular democracy in Iran. I have said that the path toward that goal begins with acknowledgment of two fundamental truths: that the Islamic Republic poses an existential threat to Iran and its people, and that the Islamic Republic cannot be reformed. This path demands civil disobedience, public demonstrations and national strikes aimed at a systemic collapse of the regime. That is the direction of events in Iran today.

After the regime ends, this path must continue with free and fair elections for a constitutional assembly. Ultimately it must arrive at a national referendum on the establishment of a secular democracy designed to safeguard each citizen’s human rights.

My life’s mission is not to assume a personal leadership role in the future state; it is, and has been for more than 39 years, to serve as a source of hope, a voice for unity, and an instrument of change for the Iranian people. Once my compatriots have reached the milestone of a national referendum—once the Iranian people have the chance to select, for the first time, the leaders of their choosing—my mission will be fulfilled.

Like the revolutionaries who founded the United States of America, Reza Otadi harbored aspirations for “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” His crime was protesting peacefully for those aspirations. Like countless others who have challenged the Islamic Republic during its almost four decades in power, he died for them. His example lays bare the essence of the Iran protests. Iran is replete with millions of Reza Otadis, and I am certain that they will soon reclaim our country and rebuild it.

Mr. Pahlavi is the eldest son of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and an advocate of secular democracy for Iran.