No Ceasefire With Tyranny: Stop Appeasing the Regime
A ceasefire was announced between Israel and the Islamic Republic of Iran — brokered by President Trump and reluctantly accepted by both sides after days of intense airstrikes. But the ceasefire is fragile. Less than an hour after it was announced, the Iranian regime launched a barrage of missiles into Beersheba, killing at least five civilians and injuring over twenty more. And yet, shortly after, Israel — under pressure from Trump — reportedly turned its fighter jets around, halting further strikes on Iranian targets.
So what’s really going on?
According to Trump and his allies, the goal was a tactical victory: damage Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, avoid a broader regional war, and gain diplomatic leverage without U.S. boots on the ground. A short, sharp campaign with a clean exit. But what many of us see is something else entirely: political theater. An effort to declare “mission accomplished” while leaving the core threat — the Islamic Republic regime — intact.
And what’s worse: it may not have even worked. Despite initial claims that the nuclear sites were “obliterated,” U.S. intelligence now suggests the damage may have been far more limited. Satellite imagery shows destruction at key sites like Fordow and Isfahan, but not total incapacitation. Enrichment infrastructure may have survived. Uranium stockpiles appear untouched in some locations. The program may be delayed by months — not years. Which means the regime could rebuild. And quickly.
Meanwhile, the Iranian regime has turned its attention inward. As always.
For the first time in years, the people of Iran had real hope. Hope that the regime might finally fall. Hope that their voices — silenced for over four decades — were finally being heard. Across multiple cities, Iranians began taking to the streets. In some areas, they chanted boldly against the regime. In others, they moved cautiously, aware of the danger. The momentum was building — not yet a full-blown revolution, but the most significant domestic defiance since 2022.
But it wasn’t enough. Not yet.
The regime’s domestic enforcers — especially the Basij, a volunteer paramilitary militia under the control of the IRGC — were still intact. The Basij are infamous for violently crushing dissent: beating, arresting, and even killing protesters in the streets. And they were ready. Within hours, they were deployed to snuff out these early signs of uprising.
And that’s the real tragedy: the war ended too soon.
President Trump halted Israel’s air campaign just as its momentum was beginning to destabilize the regime’s military grip — including the IRGC infrastructure that empowers and protects the Basij. If those strikes had continued even a few days longer, the Iranian people might have had a real opening. A fighting chance. A window to rise up before the regime could regroup.
Instead, that moment was cut short. And the people — once again — were left to face their oppressors alone.
In the wake of the ceasefire, the regime passed sweeping new laws labeling dissent as “collaboration with hostile states,” especially Israel. Penalties have been expanded. Trials are mbeing fast-tracked. At least several executions have already taken place. A digital blackout continues across large swaths of the country. Dozens — likely hundreds — have been arrested, many of them falsely accused of being Mossad agents or Zionist spies simply for speaking out, sharing videos or expressing hope that the regime might fall. The very people who believed, for once, that the world stood with them are now being hunted.
This is what “stability” looks like under the Islamic Republic.
It may feel like calm to the outside world, but inside Iran, it’s anything but. It’s a temporary halt in missile fire abroad, so the regime can resume its war against the people of Iran — through arrests, torture, executions and silence.
The reality is, this has never just been about a geopolitical chess game between Israel, the U.S., and Iran. This has always been about the Iranian people — and their right to live free of tyranny. It has always been about the fight for democracy, for secular governance, for a future not dictated by unelected clerics or international appeasers.
The reality is, this has never just been about a geopolitical chess game between Israel, the U.S., and Iran. This has always been about the Iranian people — and their right to live free of tyranny.
And to those who ask, “What comes next if the regime falls?” — the answer is simple: Let Iranians decide.
The people of Iran do not need a foreign-backed puppet or imposed solution. They need space to breathe. They need international support, not intervention. And among the options for a transitional figure who has long committed to democratic reform, Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi remains the most consistent, legitimate, and viable.
Reza Pahlavi has made clear, repeatedly, that his only goal is to assist the Iranian people in transitioning to a secular liberal democracy — one rooted in free elections, the rule of law, and pluralism. He has stated publicly that he does not want power — he wants process. His appeal is rooted not in nostalgia, but in clarity. He offers a future where Iran belongs not to mullahs, militias, or any ruling elite — but to its people.
That vision — of Iranians choosing their own government, without fear or force — is what terrifies the Islamic Republic most. It is why they try to silence him. And it is why we must amplify him.
Throughout this conflict, both Israel and the U.S. gave signals — through actions and rhetoric — that they had no intention of allowing this regime to remain standing. Everything about the campaign — even its name, Operation Rising Lion — made that clear. The operation’s title referenced the Lion and Sun emblem from Iran’s original flag, a symbol long associated with national pride and liberation from tyranny. It was a message to the Iranian people: that this time might be different. That the regime’s days were truly numbered.
But instead of a final roar, the regime remained.
What we are witnessing is not peace. It is a pause. A pause that allows the regime to regroup, rearm, and retaliate against its own citizens. A pause that gives Western powers political cover while the regime tightens its grip. A pause that, if left unchallenged, will once again extend the life of one of the world’s most brutal theocracies.
We cannot afford to fall for this again. The international community must stop legitimizing a regime that survives only through terror. If we truly believe in democracy, in women’s rights, in freedom of speech, in self-determination — then we must stand with Iranians who are risking everything to claim those values for themselves.
There can be no ceasefire with tyranny.
No deals with executioners.
No peace built on the backs of those begging for liberation.
The Islamic Republic cannot be allowed to remain standing — not after all the blood it has spilled, not after all the lies it has told, and not after all the hope it has tried to crush.
End the regime. Let Iranians choose.
Matthew Nouriel is an Iranian Jewish LGBTQ advocate and activist based in Los Angeles. He serves as Director ofCommunity Engagement for JIMENA (Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa) and is active in public discourse on Middle Eastern human rights, antisemitism, and identity.
@MatthewNouriel (Instagram & Twitter)
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