A series of dramatic interviews with Iranians from within Iran amid the massive protests unfolding against the highly repressive Islamic Republic of Iran reveal their burning desire for President Biden to recognize their revolution.
As the protests hit day 82, activists say the implication is clear: If the White House issues a stamp of approval to the revolutionary sentiments to topple the Iranian regime, the U.S. will be providing unconditional solidarity instead of standing largely on the sidelines.
“This is a constitutional revolution for the basic rights of the Iranian people,” Shagha, a designer and painter, told Fox News Digital through an encrypted line. She wants the “U.S. to recognize the revolution of the Iranian people and to recognize it is not for the hijab.”
Iran’s regime, according to critics, is now seeking to placate the demonstrators by tossing out possible concessions to stop the rolling protests that have engulfed the nation over the last 12 weeks.
The Iranian regime’s attorney general, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, recently spoke about disbanding the state’s notorious morality police who enforce the Islamic dress code for women, including the mandatory headscarf or hijab.
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The Iranian protesters told Fox News Digital that the Islamic dress code is not merely a bug of the system that can be reformed. The forced hijab and severe mistreatment of women is a feature of a radical Islamic state in Tehran that needs to be eradicated, the activists stressed.
Fox News Digital conducted the interviews on an encrypted communication line. The full identities of the Iranians cannot be disclosed because of the regime’s violent crackdown on dissent. Their names have been changed to protect their security.
Pardis, a 24-year-old woman who lives in Tehran, said, “The regime of the Islamic Republic is not legitimate. It is terrorist. It is now a revolution and not a single protest.”
She urged the Biden administration “to not negotiate and debate” with the Iranian regime: “Boycott them in everything.”
Her enthusiasm about speaking with an American news organization was evident, saying, “We love the American people and would like to learn about them.”
In this photo taken by an individual not employed by the Associated Press and obtained by the AP outside Iran, Iranians protest in Tehran on Oct. 1, 2022.
(AP Photo/Middle East Images, File)
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Pardis is following the reactions from Hollywood stars and reality television figures.
“Celebrities Angelina Jolie and Kim Kardashian speak about the revolution,” she said.
In September, Academy Award winner Jolie posted pictures of protesters from Iran to Instagram. She wrote, “Respect to the brave, defiant, fearless women of Iran,” adding, “All of those who have survived and resisted for decades, those taking to the streets today, and Mahsa Amini and all young Iranians like her.”
The Iranian regime’s alleged murder of the 22-year-old Amini while in the custody of the morality police sparked the nationwide protests against Tehran’s Islamic rulers.
In September, the morality police arrested Amini because she was not properly wearing her hijab in Tehran.
Mahsa Amini is the 22-year-old Iranian woman who was reportedly murdered by Iran’s morality police.
(Obtained by Fox News)
Parsa, a 30-year-old graphic designer in Tehran, cast doubt on Montazeri’s comment about abolishing the morality police: “It is not an official statement from the Islamic Republic. It does not matter if they abolish it or not.”
He said what matters is, “It is about revolution and regime change.”
Parsa added, “The first thing the Biden administration can do is to leave the [nuclear] negotiations with Iran. And do what [former President Donald] Trump did. He left the negotiations with the Islamic Republic of Iran and killed [Qassem] Soleimani.”
The American military used a drone attack in 2020 to assassinate the U.S.-designated terrorist Soleimani, who oversaw the elite Quds Force, a division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The U.S. government said Soleimani was responsible for the murders of more than 600 Americans in the Middle East.
According to Parsa, “When Biden talks with the Islamic Republic, it makes the Iranian people furious because it means the survival of the Islamic Republic.”
Iranians protest the death of Mahsa Amini in Tehran on Oct. 27, 2022.
(AP/Middle East Images, File)
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The White House seeks an atomic accord with Iran in which temporary restrictions are imposed on Tehran’s alleged nuclear weapons program in exchange for as much as $275 billion in sanctions relief during the first year of the deal.
The nuclear talks stalled, but if the deal is implemented, Iran’s regime would receive a massive economic windfall. The infusion of funds into Tehran’s coffers could be used to fund terrorism and wipe out the protest movement, say critics.
A U.S. State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital, “The JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) is not on our agenda right now. Iran is killing its young people and selling UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) to Russia to kill Ukrainians.”
The JCPOA is the formal name for the Iran nuclear deal. The spokesperson added that the White House is working to counter “Iran’s proliferation of dangerous UAVs to Russia for use in its brutal war against Ukraine.”
The U.S. government under both Republican and Democratic administrations has classified Iran’s theocratic state as the world’s worst state-sponsor of terrorism.
Parsa said the Iranian regime is on the ropes: “Maybe 20 years ago the Islamic Republic had 60% support [from the Iranian people]. Now it is under 10%.”
When asked about the protesters with whom Fox News Digital spoke who are seeking a dramatic change in President Biden’s foreign policy toward the Islamic Republic’s rulers, a State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital, “The eyes of the world are on Iran. The human rights abuses inflicted by Iran’s government on its people must not go without consequence. Together with partners, we are moving urgently through unilateral actions, multilateral measures and U.N. mechanism to hold Iran accountable for employing violence against its own population, particularly women and girls.”
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi speaks during a press conference in Tehran on Aug. 29, 2022.
(Iranian Presidency Office via AP)
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For Rastin, a 30-year-old doctor from southern Iran, the Biden’s administration’s policy falls short of supporting a full-blown effort to dismantle the Islamic Republic. He said the White House has merely “supported reforms and protests. But this is about revolution.”
He said, “Even if the U.N. removes… Iran from the women’s committee, it won’t be enough. There are enough reasons to remove the Islamic Republic from the U.N. because the regime does not adhere to any of the principles of this organization.”
The U.S. seeks to remove Iran’s regime from the U.N. women’s equality and empowerment body. The vote is slated for Dec. 14.
Rastin wants the U.S. to “focus on providing internet to the Iranian people.” Iran’s regime frequently blocks internet connections in the country to prevent coverage of the daily protests.
Iran’s state security apparatus has imposed spectacular levels of violence on the protesters. The security forces have murdered at least 448 people and made as many as 18,000 arrests. A shocking 60 children were killed by the regime during the protests’ waves.
Thirty-six demonstrators face the death penalty, according to the U.S.-based Center for Human Rights in Iran.
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Hooman, a middle-aged academic from Shiraz, said, “The people of Iran want to bring the regime down and have constitutional rule in Iran. The regime just tries to reduce [the protest movement] to the hijab. But it is not just about the hijab.”
He blasted the Islamic Republic’s external efforts to win over public opinion, saying, “The Islamic Republic in international meetings talks about freedom and equality, but the Islamic Republic, in fact, supports terrorism, and other countries should not be deceived by the Islamic Republic.”
He wants the international community to ramp up the pressure on Iran “to put it in a corner and weaken it.” He also took the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) to task, terming it the Iranian regime’s “lobby” and urged Americans to “listen to the real voice of Iranian people” in Iran.
Fox News sent a press query to NIAC.
Iranian police arrive to disperse a protest in Tehran on Oct. 26, 2022.
(AP)
The use of military air strikes to punish Iran’s regime was raised by a number of the protesters.
“It is an unfair war between the Islamic Republic and the Iranian people,” said Parsa. He added that the Americans could use surgical air strikes to target military bases and the residence of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei.
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Shagha said that by “attacking regime bases in Iran, the armed forces will lose their confidence and won’t trust the regime that can’t protect them, and maybe they will leave their jobs.”
Fox News Digital sent press queries to the Iran’s foreign ministry in Tehran and its permanent mission to the United Nations.
