We sat down with Iranian-born British political analyst Younes Sadaghiani, a regular commentator on GB News, TalkTV, and other UK media.
Islam Was Imposed, Not Chosen
Sadaghiani, who lived in Iran until age 13, shares the view held by many Iranian dissidents that Islam was never a genuine choice for Persia, now Iran, but rather imposed, reshaping a rich cultural and historical identity through force and fear.
He explains how the regime instills submission from childhood, with Iranian schools teaching obedience rather than encouraging questioning. This regime, built on the contradiction of claiming to be both a republic and Islamic, cannot be reformed: the will of the people cannot coexist with laws said to be dictated by God.
According to Sadaghiani, today questioning Islam is treated as a declaration of war. Protesters risk being shot; a social media post can bring arrest, home invasion, asset seizure, or execution. For 45 years, the regime has maintained power through brute force and a sophisticated system of overlapping institutions designed to crush reform before it begins.
Why Many Iranians Resist the Regime
Surprisingly to many in the West, a significant number of Iranians, especially in the diaspora, openly support Israel, not because they are Zionists, but because they know their true enemy is the regime. The clerics use anti-Israel rhetoric to mask the repression and poverty they’ve inflicted on Iran.
Iranian society is roughly divided into three groups: a small minority (10–20%) supports the regime; a large majority (60–70%) wants it gone; and a cautious middle fears that regime collapse could bring chaos, as seen in Syria, Iraq, or Afghanistan. Yet this fear has enabled continued suffering and regional destabilization.
Despite the regime’s efforts to suppress culture and replace it with dogma, Persian identity endures. Many Iranians are returning to Zoroastrianism, the ancient faith that predates Islam and celebrates life, nature, and joy reflecting the warmth and resilience of the Persian people. Traditional festivals like Nowruz and Shab-e Yalda are still quietly celebrated, preserving a heritage that Islam imposed through conquest could never erase.
No Reform, Only Collapse
Iran’s modern history is marked by dramatic shifts. Iran modernized under Reza Shah and his son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who were supported by Western powers as allies during the Cold War. However, the alliance between communist and Islamist groups in opposition to the monarchy culminated in the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which brought Ayatollah Khomeini to power. The revolution unleashed radical Islamism, which has since exported extremism globally.
Today, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) stands as the world’s most powerful state-sponsored terrorist organization, funding militias and terrorist attacks worldwide. Yet Western governments hesitate to designate it as such and have even released billions of dollars to the regime, fueling further violence.
The notion that Iran can be reformed from within is a dangerous illusion, Sadaghiani warns. Elections are a sham; real power rests firmly with the supreme leader. Negotiations only legitimize a regime that claims divine authority while crushing dissent.
As Sadaghiani cautions, the West is sleepwalking into the same ideological trap that transformed Iran from a modernizing nation into a global exporter of terror. Unless Western democracies learn from Iran’s mistakes, they may soon face a similar fate.
The fall of the Islamic Republic would offer the greatest chance for peace and progress in the Middle East, and a final, long-overdue victory for the Iranian people.
Stefan Tompson
Founder | Visegrad24
