“We now have full and complete management of the skies over Iran,” Donald Trump simply boasted on Fact Social. The important thing phrase right here being “We”—which means Netanyahu and Trump.
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Smoke risesSmoke rises from the realm the place Israeli forces struck the Iranian state tv constructing in Tehran, Iran, on June 16, 2025. The Iranian Radio and Tv Broadcasting Company reported in an announcement that its constructing within the capital Tehran was focused by Israel.
It’s a peculiar second when Donald Trump appears to be the one determine able to ending the continuing struggle between the regimes of Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel and Ali Khamenei within the Islamic Republic of Iran: rwo leaders whose years of animosity has not solely been to the detriment of their very own individuals however is now setting your entire Center East ablaze. Each males need to be tried at The Hague—Bibi for his genocidal insurance policies and unlawful struggle machineand the 86-year-old Ayatollah for perpetually choking any type of public dissent for many years, pushing a futile nuclear program that has introduced the Iranian nation nothing however grief, and exploiting sanctions to construct an huge monetary empire for the regime’s loyal elites on the backs of the struggling Iranian public.
All this at a momentous turning level, the place Trump’s newest remarks on Fact Social point out his full navy assist for Israel, stating, “We now have full and complete management of the skies over Iran.” The important thing phrase right here being “We”—which means Netanyahu and Trump.
In response to a Washington, DC–based mostly rights groupin lower than 4 days Israel’s ongoing air marketing campaign has resulted in additional than 400 civilian casualties in Iran, with accidents nearing 1,000. In the meantime, the Iranian authorities’s missiles have struck components of Tel Aviv, Petah Tikva, Haifa, and Jerusalem, killing 24 Israelis and injuring dozens. As soon as once more, it’s extraordinary people who find themselves left to pay the worth for the extraordinary hubris, greed, and ideological fanaticism of those two leaders.
Through the years, the world has rightfully rallied round Russia’s struggle on Ukraine, the atrocities of the October 7 assaults on Israel, justice for Syrians underneath Assad’s brutal reign, and for a much-needed ceasefire in Gaza. Nonetheless, within the midst of this escalating disaster, the Iranian individuals stay the loneliest items of this brutal geopolitical puzzle—trapped between a theocracy that has lengthy betrayed them and a world that continues to disregard their cries.
From the unprecedented uprisings through the Inexperienced Motion in 2009 to the bloody protests of 2019and most not too long ago the 2022 Girl, Life, Freedom motionhundreds of thousands of Iranians have peacefully poured into the streets to precise their disdain towards the Ayatollah’s regime, risked their lives for an inch of freedom, and had been crushed in return—solely to declare to the world: We don’t need this regime.
Immediately, Iran’s brightest and most brave are in prisons—thinkers, artistsrights activists, attorneys, educatorsand journalists—the very men and women who characterize the long run of a free Iran.
But, repeatedly, the world has achieved little however watch. Immediately, as Israel’s world-class arsenal—backed by the US’ navy would possibly—management Iran’s airspace each Netanyahu and Trump are issuing pressing evacuation orders for densely populated cities. To the extraordinary Iranian individuals who don’t have any hope for both sanity or safety from their authorities, these warnings ring hole. “Empty gestures” was the decision of an engineer ready for hours at a fuel station for a mere 15 liters (4 gallons) of gasoline in northern Tehran. These residing in Iran’s densely populated cities know too properly that there isn’t any likelihood of evacuating hundreds of thousands from the nation’s sprawling city facilities inside hours, not to mention minutes.
Other than a really transient second that suited the appetites of western media and public alike through the Girl, Life, Freedom rebellion, the Iranian individuals’s grievances have lengthy been buried beneath the bombast of their very own authorities and the strategic posturing and pursuits of international international locations. Now greater than ever, the Iranian persons are calling for international empathy—to be seen, to be heard, to have their loss of life toll counted alongside that of their Israeli counterparts. Much more urgently—maybe for one final time—they yearn to be seen by the world by means of a humanized lens within the face of their utter dehumanization by each the Islamic Republic and the Israeli state.
Most Iranians at the moment are in pure survival mode—merely attempting to not die in a crossfire they neither selected nor management. Even when Netanyahu manages to kill the person he describes as his archenemy, the euphoria over Khamenei’s loss of life felt by hundreds of thousands of Iranians might not be sufficient to heal the injuries of a deeply scarred nation—no less than within the quick time period.
“We got here out 12 months after 12 months—bought killed time and again and the world simply watched,” mentioned a 39-year-old mission supervisor from Tehran’s third district, which had simply been ordered to evacuate by the IDF. Caught in site visitors attempting to flee to Northern Iran by automobile, she added, “If we survive this time—a method or one other, we received’t return in time. And if we die, we received’t be right here to lastly see the results of our blood. We don’t need to be caught in between these two monsters.”
Regardless of being ruled by one of many world’s most repressive regimes, the Iranian individuals have constantly proven mental resilience, cultural depth, and social sophistication—together with a fervent tenacity, braveness and aspiration mirroring that of many hundreds of thousands worldwide. In distinction to the ethos of the nation’s ruling regime, Iran has one of many highest literacy charges within the area, producing a number of the highest numbers of engineers, medical doctors, and scientists relative to its neighboring international locations. Iran stays a society the place ladies’s participation within the work pressure and in increased schooling stays considerably excessive. Almost 70 p.c of college graduates in science, expertise, engineering and arithmetic (STEM) are ladies. Iran’s diaspora is among the many most educated, whereas its home artists, filmmakersand poets proceed to create what they name “miracles” regardless of suffocating censorship and fixed hazard.
Surrounded by 12 land, air, and water borders, Iran is a nation that, if not crushed by sanctions, inside repression, and worldwide isolation, can contribute to international progress in additional methods than one. But, for practically 4 many years—on account of the Islamic regime’s rogue conduct—its individuals have been marginalized by the world for crimes they didn’t commit, whereas being deceived, terrorized, and humiliated by the powers that be at residence.
Present Situation
Whereas some should settle for the IDF’s declare that it doesn’t intend to focus on civilians, such intentions develop into meaningless when bombs rain down on densely populated neighborhoods on this fast-moving struggle—a battle that can inevitably kill harmless Iranians who, for many years, have shed blood and tears—voicing their grievances to a silent world.
“We simply wish to breathe. We wish to reside. We wish an finish to this all,” mentioned a Jewish designer in Tehran—echoing an ever-present cry for peace —a plea from a individuals lengthy brutalized, unheard, and misrepresented by their ruling regime and deserted by the worldwide neighborhood at giant.
A method or one other, the struggle will finish, however the highest value, as soon as once more, will likely be paid by the Iranian individuals—lots of whom might not reside to see the solar over their embattled homeland.
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Onward,
Katrina Vanden Heuvel
Writer, The Nation
Tara Kangarou
Tara Kangarlou is an Iranian-American international affairs journalist who has produced, written and reported for NBC, CNN, and Al Jazeera America. She is an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown College and is the creator of The Heartbeat of Iran.
