The American Spectator spoke to sources from the Iranian opposition. These include a former and current resident of Iran, both of whom relayed to us information from extensive contacts in the country. These sources include Iranians “living in the center of Tehran” and across the country. Coming from a regime stained with blood, our sources provided this information with great courage.
The Iranian regime has taken action to block the internet in the country. Few Iranians are able to reach friends outside their country’s borders. Those who are able to access the internet rely on Elon Musk’s Starlink service.
Our source said that those in Iran had told them “doing anything is really hard” as a result of the airstrikes trapping Iranians at home. With Israel maintaining control over the skies of Iran, “everyone is scared to go outside,” although many Iranians have fled the capital city of Tehran, often to the north of the country. Our source advised friends in Tehran to leave the city.
In response, residents of Tehran told them, “We can’t just leave our home and go.” Iran maintains a system of subsidized gasoline prices that those in the country say now is “being used to limit gas consumption” to 15-20 liters (4-5 gallons) per day maximum, far from enough to flee the sites of war for most residents.
Our source told The American Spectator that most Iranians wish for “basic freedom” such as “internet and free speech.” However, most anti-regime Iranians are “still scared that Islamic Republic intelligence [will] kidnap them and execute them.”
Many oppositionists remember past protests, where “there were many executed” on accusations with “no proof ever provided by the Islamic Republic juristic system” of being spies affiliated with the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad.
However, most people “never wanted any fight with Israel.” Our source relayed seeing “people living worse than people in Gaza” during a relatively recent time spent in Iran, particularly in the southeastern region of Balochistan, where “they don’t have water, they need to buy water for washing and drinking.”
When wells reach a high point, drownings of young children are common. In these villages, residents see “children dying for water.” This was said to be a quality of life people would normally associate with “Gaza or Africa.”
Our source speculated that just 20 percent of Iranians still support the regime. They “don’t trust Israel doing this” and believe their nation will collapse akin to Iraq unless the regime secures victory. This demographic was emphasized to be in the minority among Iranians.
The American Spectator was told that many Iranians worry about what might replace the regime, as the opposition is divided between monarchist supporters of Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, son of the late Shah of Iran deposed during the 1979 Iranian Revolution, and those of other inclinations, ranging from conservatives who seek a republic to socialists.
The source said that Iranian people “hope for the regime to fall” and “showed that we don’t want this Islamic regime with our protests.”
They claimed many Iranians in the opposition felt that world governments gave the regime too much legitimacy and international recognition “without looking into the details,” because “people [in Iran] know about the regime’s lies.”
The source said they felt most Iranians still “don’t have hope of [the regime] falling this easily” after 40 years of struggle. They claimed that it “feels like a far-fetched dream.” This source identified the shutdown of the internet as a significant challenge for the opposition due to the role social media sites such as Reddit and Telegram have played in organizing anti-regime activity. Due to this, they believed “people’s morale is very low.”
This source was not an optimist. They cited the amount of Iranian propaganda across international media and claimed that the regime wants “to buy time as much as they can in hope that the world would forget about this or make them [the world] forget” through influencing foreign media.
Independent journalists in Iran often struggle with bringing their stories globally, such as allegations of voter fraud against former President Ibrahim Raisi. Many pro-Iran sources in neighboring Middle Eastern countries have journalists “paid by the Islamic Republic to stay quiet” on issues such as the murder of Mahsa Amini, who was murdered in 2022 by the Iranian regime for not wearing a hijab.
Bound by tyranny, our sources exhibited daring in speaking to the outside world. Near the end of our communication, the source made clear that communicating with foreigners means “their life is on the line.”
Shiv Parihar is an editorial intern at The American Spectator, you can follow him on X @ShivomMParihar.
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