How the Iranian Regime’s Fear of the Uprising and PMOI Signals Its Imminent Downfall
Protesters clash with security forces in the streets of Iran during the 2022 uprising against the clerical dictatorship
Written by
Mohammad Sadat Khansari
A regime’s true state is not measured by its public boasts, but by the panic in its leaders’ voices. In recent weeks, a remarkable chorus of admissions and threats has emerged from the highest levels of Iran’s clerical, judicial, and security apparatus. These statements, directed at both internal and external audiences, reveal a theocracy consumed by a paralyzing fear of the Iranian people and their organized Resistance.
Far from being a show of strength, the regime’s frantic efforts—from public confessions and frantic propaganda to calls for accelerated executions—are the desperate actions of a system that sees its own collapse on the horizon.
An Open Confession of a Failing Strategy
The most startling evidence of the regime’s fear comes from its own insiders, who are now publicly articulating the mechanics of their potential downfall. On July 17, 2025, Reza Taghavi, the former head of the Friday Prayer Policymaking Council for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, laid bare the regime’s anxieties. He described the opposition’s strategy with chilling clarity: “They had calculated that by attacking the personalities, the system would be weakened… in the next stage, the Mojahedin’s influence cells and villains would take the field, and then the dissatisfied people would topple the system.”
This is not a mere accusation; it is an open admission from a senior cleric that the regime sees the Resistance’s strategy as a viable and progressing threat. He confirms that the exposure of corrupt officials directly weakens the regime’s foundations, creating an opening for organized “influence cells” to mobilize a populace already primed by discontent.
#Tehran’s War Fallout Exposes a Cornered Regime Gripped by Fear, Crackdown, and Global Isolationhttps://t.co/tE9tEIP6H5
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) July 1, 2025
On July 12, 2025, the state-run Mashregh News published an attack on the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), arguing that its long-standing slogan, “No War, No Appeasement,” serves to “strengthen the maximum pressure strategy” against Iran. This reveals the regime’s fear that the Resistance’s political advocacy is effectively shaping international policy and isolating the theocracy.
Days earlier, on July 9, 2025, Khamenei’s advisor, Mohammad Mokhber, responded to rumors of President Masoud Pezeshkian’s potential resignation by reflexively blaming “enemies” who are “behind Maryam Rajavi.” For the regime, any sign of internal political fracture or instability is not a result of its own failures, but a plot orchestrated by the organized opposition.
A Mandate for State-Sanctioned Murder
When confessions and propaganda fail, the regime reverts to its most basic instinct: raw violence. Terrified of the popular dissent that Taghavi described, the judiciary and security forces are preparing a brutal crackdown. On July 17, 2025, Judiciary Chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i issued a chilling directive to prosecutors. He ordered them to fast-track any case involving “any kind of collaboration” with perceived enemies, specifically demanding they prioritize cases that could end in a death sentence. “If there are cases where a sentence of cancellation of life might be applicable,” he commanded, “accelerate this and place it in the first priority.”
#Iran's Digital Crackdown Signals Regime's Struggle for Survivalhttps://t.co/nuwev4az5p
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) July 16, 2025
This sentiment was echoed by the notorious police commander, Ahmad-Reza Radan, on July 16, 2025. While threatening “spies and traitors,” he contemptuously referred to the Iranian people as potential “thugs and villains,” exposing the regime’s deep-seated fear and disdain for its own citizens and its terror of a popular uprising.
The statements from Taghavi, Eje’i, Radan, and the regime’s state-controlled media are not isolated incidents. They are the panicked, discordant notes in a symphony of fear. Together, they paint a clear picture: a corrupt, illegitimate regime that knows it is sitting on a powder keg of popular anger, which it sees being actively and effectively organized by a viable Resistance.
How the Iranian Regime’s Fear of the Uprising and PMOI Signals Its Imminent Downfall