IRAN, August 1, 2018. Protests erupt for the second day in Shapour, Isfahan

At the end of December last year, millions of people across Iran took to the streets to voice their discontent. This uprising is different than any previous ones because the people were demanding regime change. They know that there is no moderation in the regime and that reform is a myth that will never happen under the mullahs’ rule.

The people of Iran are fed up of watching the regime line its pockets with the wealth of the nation. They are also sick of seeing the regime interfere in the affairs of other countries, most notably in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. Video footage from recent protests in Iran show the people chanting “No to Gaza, no to Lebanon, my soul is Iran’s redemption”.

As usual, the Iranian regime has decided to use brute force to deal with the protesters. Since the start of the protests in December last year, countless people have been arrested and thrown in jail. More than 25 protesters were killed.

Human rights organisations are calling on the Iranian authorities to put an end to its violations of human rights. Iran is one of the countries with the worst human rights record in the world and conditions continue to deteriorate every day.

The Iranian regime is trying to instil fear in the people but it is not working. The more the regime clamps down on the people, the more they will resist and the more determined they will be to topple the Iranian regime.

The protests in Iran have been gaining momentum in the past few weeks. At the end of June, merchants at the Grand Bazaar in the country’s capital and from other markets held a strike. Then truck drivers held a strike in protest against their appalling work conditions. Earlier this week, railway workers in the north-eastern part of the country held a protest because they had not received their salaries for the past four months. According to reports from Iran, the protesters cut access to the main railway route.

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the main opposition to the Iranian regime, has called on the people of Iran and all freedom-loving people to ensure that the Iranian regime continues to be pressured. As she has pointed out, the economic situation can only be resolved with the toppling of the clerical leadership that is destroying the country. She calls on the protesters to continue taking to the streets and to not bow to the regime’s cruel campaign of oppression.