By Farid Khalifi


Any Iranian whom the Islamic Republic has not killed to date is owed a “normal life” by the state, the clerics, and Islamists, for every second he or she has lived under that regime. Life’s precious moments are each person’s most prized possession. Acting rationally or instinctively, reasonable people would allow no one to take this treasure away from them. But, unfortunately, the Islamic Republic has persistently and consistently robbed Iranians living under its regime of this most valuable asset.

A manifestly evil regime has violated its citizens’ fundamental human and civil rights, turning their dreams of living everyday lives free of unrelenting fear and anxiety into a nightmare. Reasonable persons who have not lived in the confines of the Islamic Republic, and have not abandoned their logic in favor of the regime, know the vast difference between “normal life” and living as a hostage in Iran. Hopefully, those in Iran are not acclimated to this abnormal condition, to the point of not realizing they have been living in a festering swamp.

How can 80 million Iranians allow themselves to be robbed so blatantly?

For the past 42 years, Iranians have lived under unusual conditions. They have seen the cost of goods continually go up and the value of their national currency, the rial, drop steadily. The Islamic Republic is the only governing system in the world that blatantly robs the national treasury. The state apparatus misappropriates public funds with little or no resistance from the people. Hyperinflation and devaluation of the rial have directly resulted from the institutionalized corruption within the regime.

The corrupt leaders of the Islamic Republic have amassed wealth and lined the pockets of their families, friends, and relatives by raiding the national treasury. They have wasted the country’s wealth, which belongs to the Iranian people, in Syria, Iraq, Palestine, Yemen, Venezuela, and other places, sponsoring terrorism, murder, unrest, bombings, and wars. Citizens of a wealthy country like Iran rarely live under such abnormal conditions. Iranians constantly worry about the increasing cost of goods and devaluation of their national currency.

How can 80 million Iranians let a small group destroy them?

The Islamic Republic is the only state in the world that has, directly and indirectly, killed thousands of its citizens. Those responsible for these heinous crimes live freely and continue their activities with complete impunity. No other regime in the world has robbed, brutalized, imprisoned, and killed its people so it can stay in power.

How can 80 million Iranians let themselves be brainwashed every day?

Iranians are the only nations in the world governed by a state that is not of the people and has unashamedly pursued its goals and a narrow tribal and religious agenda, rather than protecting the interests of Iran and Iranian people. How could 80 million Iranians let a tiny criminal minority impose a foreign culture on the nation and corrupt children’s minds with inhumane and anti-Iranian teachings? In the past four decades, the Islamic Republic has deliberately and systematically tried to eradicate Iranian culture and history and continues to do so today. It has instead promoted superstitions, religious falsehood, and building shrines that have mushroomed all over the country in the past few decades. The money that should be used on education, improving people’s lives, and promoting Iranian society has been spent on destroying the country’s history and ancient culture.

How can 80 million Iranians let themselves be robbed of a future?

An average person lives an ordinary life in a normal country. Children who grow up in a typical environment receive proper education, devoid of ideological teachings, and ultimately enter the workforce. In most instances, they can make a decent living on average salaries and wages and even buy cars and homes. However, Iranians face an existential threat from the moment they are born. They cannot secure jobs and create stable lives because of high employment and hyperinflation, resulting from the endemic incompetence and corruption in the Islamic Republic. As a result, many factories and industries have closed, and a large segment of the population is forced into poverty, while a selected group of well-connected people and their friends and family get rich.

How can 80 million Iranians let their children lead such unhealthy lives?

In a normal country, girls and boys grow up together, sit next to each other in classrooms, enter society as adults, and work side by side. These stages are part of a normal growth process, through which young adults discover their natural urges, receive sex education devoid of any taboo and explore relationships based on mutual respect. Unfortunately, the sick and corrupt ideology of the Islamic Republic considers sex a taboo subject. The regime segregates sexes from birth through adulthood, depriving children of a healthy understanding of natural human relations. It practices sexual apartheid, resulting in rampant emotional and sexual disorders, which remain with most young people throughout their lives. As a result, they never grow up to be well-adjusted adults. Tribal and religious teachings are at the root of psychological disorder and domestic violence in society.

How can 80 million Iranians let Islamists legally and systematically insult women?

The Islamic Republic is the only state in the world that demeans women and treats them as second-class citizens. It violates women’s civil and human rights with impunity. It has imposed mandatory hijab on women. Instead of safeguarding their human rights, the regime treats women as sex objects, who must hide from the prying eyes of men, so as not to arouse them sexually. This sick view of women is also an insult to men, branding them as sex zombies aroused at the sight of a woman’s skin. These inhumane practices and limitations deprive women of many social activities, and it also threatens their safety and security.

How can 80 million Iranians let Iran’s embassies and missions be a den of terrorists?

Besides destroying Iran’s environment, economy, history, and culture, the Islamic Republic has squandered the national treasury on military campaigns, which have bankrupted the country and devalued the rial. It has tried to wipe out Iranian national identity outside the country systematically. Millions of Iranians who could have played a crucial role in developing their homeland have been forced to immigrate to other countries. The embassies and missions of the Islamic Republic are homes to terrorists and are used to plan and carry out terror acts worldwide. The Islamic Republic has turned the country into a pariah state, and Iranian passports the most worthless travel document in the world. Its citizens do their utmost to flee their homeland.

The Islamic Republic has become synonymous with human rights violations. Rational people wonder how a tiny corrupt minority could destroy the precious gift of life for a nation, depriving Iranians and their children of a future? Iranian people can remove this small faction and force its members back into their cloisters.