Name: Analyst: 'Iran’s regime is not a monolith — some major elements call for a paradigm change'
Uploaded: 2026-01-10T17:03:04.000Z
Duration: 12 min 27 s
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Unrest continues to grow in Iran with street demonstrations raging across the country.

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Protesters are publicly calling for the end of the Islamic Republic.

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The son of the last Shah has sent words of encouragement to the protesters, saying the country's supreme leader is trembling in fear.

But so far, authorities have not backed down.

The Internet is still cut off, with rights groups alleging more and more deaths and reports of overwhelmed hospitals.

Unrest in Iran is intensifying, quickly approaching the two week mark despite mass repression.

Videos posted on social media show anti government demonstrators turned out in large numbers in Tehran on Friday.

They are calling to overthrow the Islamic regime.

The exiled son of the former Shah of Iran called on his supporters and opponents of the Iranian government to stage more targeted protests.

I ask all of you today and tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday, to come onto the streets with flags, images and symbols of our nation and to claim public spaces as your own.

To the youth of Iran and to all armed and security forces who have joined us, I further slow down and disrupt the machinery of repression so that on the appointed day, we can completely shut it down.

The current protests were sparked by the dire economic situation in Iran, which has steadily worsened.

The situation has escalated into a nationwide confrontation between protesters and the state, with an Internet blackout, mass arrests and a rising death toll, according to rights groups.

US President Donald Trump again warned the US Will strike Iran very hard if protesters are killed.

I've made the statement very strongly that if they start killing people like they have in the past, we will get involved.

We'll be hitting very hard where it hurts.

And that doesn't mean boots on the ground, but

it means hitting them very, very hard where it hurts.

So European countries have also explicitly supported the protesters.

The leaders of France, Germany and the UK Urged Iran to exercise restraint and condemn the violent suppression.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has said the clerical regime won't back down, while the Iranian Revolutionary Guard said safeguarding Iran's security was a red line.

Iran's streets remain tense, with neither the protesters nor the state showing any sign of retreat.

Farah Sejas is a Middle east expert at the London School of Economics.

Let's pick up first on this open threat by Donald Trump against the Iranian regime.

Well, I mean, you really have to speculate to read Donald Trump's mind.

He says he will hit the Iranian leadership where it hurts the most.

And if you ask me to speculate, he really means assassinating Iran's top leaders and attacking strategic targets of the revolutionary gods.

But at the end of the day, what we need to understand is that Donald Trump is cynically exploiting the legitimate grievances of the Iranian people.

And my answer to your question is that Donald Trump does not really have any moral authority to really side with the internal protesters in Iran.

Look what he's doing in the United States.

I mean, he is cracking down against the Senate.

He's violating international law and the U.S. constitution.

He's turning the United States into more and more, into an authoritarian state.

Leave the Iranian people alone to decide their own future and their own internal affairs.

Well, I think what we have seen in the past two weeks, I think we're seeing the protesters or the protest spreading to more cities and towns.

Despite the Internet, the blackout, The Internet, Internet blackout and the threats by the revolutionary gods.

I think what distinguishes this wave of protest, you know, than previous protests is that it's demographically more diverse.

You have students, you have middle class people, you have professionals, you have merchants, you have working class people.

And I think what we need to understand now is that Iran is really facing a perfect storm.

Severe internal challenges and also threats by both the United States and Israel.

So the question is, will the Iranian leadership be able to overcome not only the external threats, but

also the grievances, the internal economic and social and political grievances of millions of Iranians?

And do you believe the son of the last Shah, living in exile in the US has popular support in Iran?

Well, I mean, first of all, we don't really have any surveys, we don't really have any polls about the popularity of the son of the Shah.

But if you ask me, knowing what we know about the Iranian people and their hopes and aspirations, I don't think the Iranian people want the Shah regime to return to Iran.

What we need to understand about what's happening in Iran is that it's leaderless, unlike previous waves.

So the son of the Shah now comes in and yes, some Iranians respond.

But at the end of the day, I think what the Iranians want, they want genuine change.

They want transition from authoritarianism to pluralism as opposed to democracy at this particular stage.

At the end of the day, I have no doubts in my mind that is the Iranian people and some elements of the government, because, remember, the regime is not really a monolith.

We're not just talking about the regime versus the people.

You have some major elements within the Islamic Republic who call for a paradigm change.

A paradigm change that takes Iran from its current terrible situation economically and socially and politically into a much more, you might say, forward looking and inclusive society.

What point have these protests now reached?

Although nationwide Internet blackouts remain in place now for more than 40 hours, there were some videos coming out showing the protests are continuing in Tehran and and other cities.

To be honest, I was up all night following the development and what I'm hearing and seeing is that the crowd are dramatically different from previous waves of protests both in scale and in intensity.

So the number of people involved is unprecedented compared to past years.

And the government's crackdown have been significantly more more violent.

So many disturbing videos showing people killed in different cities have been widely circulated in social media and human rights organizations report at least 79 people killed so far.

But there is another report that Time magazine has reported that a doctor in Tehran confirmed 270 deaths caused by live ammunition were registered on Thursday night alone across six hospitals in Tehran.

But however, due to severe communication restrictions, verified death toll remains extremely difficult to get, to calculate and to obtain.

By the sounds of it, the government's not backing down.

The scale of official threats have been extremely high.

Authorities openly warn people that if live ammunition is used they they should not complain and and protesters have been labeled as terrorists and agents of foreign enemies.

That's what I have never seen or heard like this.

But what we are seeing suggests that fear is no longer working the way it used to.

Despite these warnings and increasingly violence crackdown people are still coming out.

For many Iranians the sense of injustice and desperation now outweighs the fear of repression.

Is there any indication yet that the exiled son of the Shah has any sway on demonstrators and the situation in Iran?

Given his support base and the current situation in Iran, yes, today anyone who can have an impact on the protest carries weight.

So Reza Pahlavi has the support of a significant portion of people inside Iran.

But it is important to stress that not all protesters are his supporters.

However, estimating how many people truly see him as an alternative to the regime in Iran is extremely difficult and only possible through free and open polls.

But one key reason for Pahlavi slogans stand out is that monarchists have a public figure while other opposition forces do not.

And at the same time, like being outside Iran does not mean that he can remain passive.

So he's under strong pressure now from inside the country, from outside to act and support protesters.

It is also worth remembering that opposition leadership inside Iran often means prison, exile, or death.

So at this stage, many different opposition groups, including those critical of monarchy, are focused less on political differences and more on ending the Islamic Republic.

So differences will re emerge after regimes fall, but

that is normal and essential part of any democratic transition, I guess.

Yeah, well, we're not talking about a democracy here, so where do you see this going?

Considering that you say these are bigger, more intense, these protests and the government more violent than ever, yeah, there is a long pass through democracy.