However, we must be realistic about the situation. Just because the people are out on the street calling for regime change, it does not mean that it will happen. The people need to be supported by the right people at the right time.

Similar uprisings in history show us that brutal regimes will hit back at the people with excessive force. Some use bullets. Others use chemical weapons.

Looking back on the history of Iran itself, bloody conflicts have led the country to where it is today. The Safavids decided to move their capital Isfahan to ensure better protection from the Ottoman Turks. Turkic tribes were displaced to southern parts of Iran.

Iran’s history is also full of assassinations. This is a tactic that we have seen used time and time again. It is a trend that goes back as far as the 11th Century. Notable assassinations include that of Nader Shah, the Shah of Persia, who was killed in 1747 and Dr. Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou, a Kurdish opposition leader, who was killed more recently in 1989.

There have also been a number of uprisings in the history of Iran. These have normally been carried out by minorities that have faced suppression – Turkmen, Kurds, Arabs and the Baluch community. Time and time again these people are suppressed by the rulers of the country.

Since 1979, the brutal regime has created chaos – not just at home, but also outside its borders. When the first Iran-Iraq war was happening, many blamed the dictatorship in Iraq and ignored the dangers posed by Iran despite its rhetoric about exporting the revolution and its intent on destroying unity in Palestine.

To export its crisis by meddling in the internal affairs of the neighbouring countries, Iran set up the Popular Mobilization Force in Iraq with the intention of it becoming a powerful authority (in the same way the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, operated in Iran).

Iran also counts Hezbollah as another one of its powerful proxy groups. Not only is it Iran’s way into Lebanon, but the group also fights on Iran’s behalf elsewhere, namely Syria. Iran has propped up the Syrian regime and dictator Bashar al Assad from the very beginning of the civil war there.

During all this time, the people of Iran have been neglected. You could say that the people of Iran are the original victims of the regime’s brutality and cruelty. The people are denied the most basic of human rights and political opponents and minorities are harshly treated.

The people of Iran want freedom, human rights, democracy and prospects for the future. They want a fair leadership that will place the needs of the people above foreign conflicts. The people want what they should already be entitled to which is only possible by Regime Change.