Full-Scale Revolution Is Now Under Way in Iran

They note that dozens of Iranian citizens have been killed in the unrest in more than 20 cities over a 50% increase in fuel prices, but that the situation in the streets remains unclear due to an internet outage.

This picture masks the real scope and nature of the events unfolding in Iran. A full-scale revolution is under way and the Iranian people are determined to continue, regardless of the risk to their lives, until the brutal Islamic regime is removed.

Here are the background and realities on the ground in Iran as relayed from democratic opposition elements in Iran.

Iranian democratic opposition groups were poised to launch a nation-wide operation to bring about the controlled collapse of the Khamenei regime even before the regime abruptly announced a three-fold, not 50%, increase in fuel costs. The announcement sparked immediate violent protests, initially in more than 50 cities across Iran. Iranian society had been pushed to the breaking point; the Islamic regime already bankrupted and impoverished the Iranian nation. The fuel price increase triggered widespread protests and served to mobilize the Iranian people against the regime.

The regime’s vicious response to crush the protests caused the democratic opposition groups to immediately launch their planned operation to remove and replace the outlaw regime. Guided by Iranian democratic opposition organizations both inside and outside Iran, the Iranian people are now engaged in bringing about the controlled collapse of the Islamic regime and immediate replacement by a transitional caretaker government to establish a secular, freely elected democratic government under a new constitution guaranteeing the rights and freedom of all Iranian citizens.

The Tehran regime totally shut down internet access to the Iranian people on November 15 when massacres of hundreds of peacefully protesting Iranian citizens began. Deploying foreign terrorist militia snipers to house-tops in many cities, the regime now has killed 480 citizens. 480 deaths are confirmed, with more than 700 murders reported but not yet confirmed by democratic opposition group elements on the ground. Thousands have been arrested. An example of regime brutality confronting the people is the murder of the local military commander in Shiraz. He was executed along with his entire family when he refused to order his force to open fire on unarmed peaceful protesters — teenagers, men, and women.

The revolution under way in more than 100 cities across Iran is gaining momentum despite the foreign death squads and snipers employed by the regime and the communications blackout imposed on the people by the regime. Supreme Leader Khamenei has gone into hiding; he is not in Tehran. Flights to and from Moscow have dramatically increased in the last 48 hours. The regime has put a hold on aircraft to allow for the rapid evacuation of regime leaders and their families.

What can be done to help the Iranian people? Despite indiscriminate slaughter by the regime, the Iranian people have not asked for outside military operations to secure their freedom. They asked for no lethal aid from the United States or its allies in the Middle East. Is it too much to ask the United States and Europe for restoration of reliable in-country access by the Iranian people to the internet which has been totally shut down by the regime?

Under the circumstances, wouldn't internet access constitute humanitarian assistance to the Iranian people and minimize violence and bloodshed during the turmoil?

The United States should continue to impose the harshest possible sanctions on the regime and not remove them until requested by the new Iranian transition government. Any recommendations by European leaders to negotiate with the outlaw regime should be immediately rejected out of hand. There is no turning back for the Iranian people and they will never forget their friends during this upheaval.

Amir Abbass Fakhravar is a former political prisoner from Iran, award winning writer, constitutional law professor and Senate Chairman of the National Iranian Congress. To read more of his reports — Click Here Now.

G. William Heiser is a former Reagan NSC Staff Director and U.S. Army Special Forces Vietnam veteran.