The World Forgot Who the Islamic Republic Is

Just about two years ago, people across the world took to the streets, chanting “Women, Life, Freedom,” holding signs with Mahsa Amini’s name, who was killed at the age of 22 by Iran’s morality police for showing a few strands of hair. Back then, the outrage was clear and there was no room to analyze the situation. The regime was seen for what it is: brutal to say the least. For a moment, it felt like the world finally recognized the cruelty of a government that silences dissent and treats women as threats.

But that clarity didn’t last.

Today, many of those same voices, those same activists, influencers, self-proclaimed defenders of justice have either gone quiet or worse, started defending the very regime they once condemned. This is a regime that executes teenagers for dancing on TikTok, that beats women in the streets for refusing to cover their hair, that imprisons anyone who dares speak out or even hangs people merely out of suspicion. A regime that literally policies morality through violence.

Since the war broke out between Israel and Hamas, Iran has been fighting through its proxies surrounding the Jewish State, and on two occasions, directly. On April 13, the Islamic Republic launched hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel in a coordinated attack meant to cause as much civilian harm as possible. It was unprecedented.

And yet, the global response was…non-existent. At best, it was awkward silence. At worst, it was filled with justifications for Iran’s so called “resistance.”

Let’s be clear: the Islamic Republic is not just repressive, its core ideology is expansionist. It doesn’t only want control over Iranians. It seeks to export its revolution. Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, the Houthis in Yemen, Shiite militias in Syria and Iraq, these are not freelance independent actors. They’re all backed, trained, and armed by Iran to a certain extent as part of its decades-long strategy to encircle and ultimately eliminate the Jewish state.

Since October 7, Iran’s fingerprints have been everywhere. Hamas’s massacre of Israeli civilians. Hezbollah’s daily fire from the north. Houthi missiles from the south. For years, Iran operated indirectly. The April 13 barrage? That was the regime revealing its true colors.

And still there are no consequences. No global outrage. Just more forgetting, or maybe it’s easier to dismiss than confront your own contradiction.

If you turn a blind eye to what this regime really is just because it suits your politics, you’re not standing for justice. You’re turning your back on the Iranian people.

A lot of people forget that Iran and Israel were not always enemies. Before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, when Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was in power, Iran was actually one of Israel’s closest allies in the region. It was the second Muslim-majority country to recognize Israel back in 1950. The two countries worked together on agriculture, infrastructure, and defense. Israelis traveled to Tehran freely. There was real partnership and mutual respect.

Then the revolution happened. The Shah was overthrown and the Ayatollahs took over, with Khomeini leading the change after years in exile in France. In a way, the whole thing was set in motion from outside Iran. Almost overnight, hating Israel wasn’t just politics, it became part of the regime’s identity. Chants like “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” weren’t just slogans anymore. They were embedded into the system, used to justify the regime’s grip on power and its radical ideology.

But here’s what’s important: The people of Iran are not the Islamic Republic.

And many Iranians are making that crystal clear.

In the past few months, as the regime has stepped up its attacks on Israel, many Iranians living in exile have taken to the streets, this time standing with Israel. Across cities in Europe and North America, you can see them carrying the old Iranian flag, the one from before the revolution, right alongside the Israeli flag. It is more than a protest. It is a message. A show of resistance against the regime, and of shared pain between its victims, whether Iranian or Israeli.

These are people who had to leave everything behind, their homes, their past, their families, because of the regime that still controls their country. They have lost friends to executions. They have seen their mothers beaten for speaking out. They were forced into exile for asking for the most basic rights. And they understand something much of the world still cannot see. The violence Iran uses against its own people is the same violence it spreads beyond its borders. The oppression at home is reflected in its actions abroad.

Still, the world keeps treating Iran’s internal repression and its actions abroad as if they are two separate things. As if the morality police and the people building missiles belong to different worlds. But they don’t. It is the same regime, driven by the same ideology, fueled by the same cruelty.

The same government that throws women in jail for dancing is the one building missiles for Hezbollah. The same regime that tortures journalists is sending money to Hamas. And the same leaders who execute their younger generations for speaking out are the ones enriching uranium and openly saying, without shame, that they want to wipe Israel off the map.

This is not just Israel’s fight. It’s a fight for regional stability. For basic human rights. For the Iranians who’ve been silenced, beaten, and killed for decades.

So when the world rushes to defend the “resistance,” or condemns Israel for defending itself, we have to ask: What exactly are you supporting? And who are you betraying?

If you marched for Mahsa Amini, you can’t stand with the regime that took her life.
If you believe in human rights, you can’t look the other way when the most advanced missiles are aimed at civilians.

And if you truly oppose despotism, your solidarity can’t disappear just because the target this time is Israel.

This isn’t a fight between equals. It’s between a country that grieves every life lost and one that glorifies death and martyrdom. One side tries to protect its people. The other hides behind them.

The world forgot who the Islamic Republic really is. It is time to remember, even if it challenges the narrative you have chosen to believe.