Mahsa Jina Amini wasn’t looking to become a martyr: She was an ordinary Iranian-Kurdish 22-year-old, stopped by Iran’s “morality police” for not properly wearing the mandatory veil known as the hijab.

Days later, on Sept. 16, 2022, she was dead in custody.

Her killing sparked the largest wave of protests in the Islamic Republic’s four-decade history.

People poured into the streets nationwide under the banner “Woman, Life, Freedom” — rebelling not against one law, but against a suffocating regime that had robbed them of choice, dignity and hope.

The regime reacted with brutal suppression, killing more than 500 protesters and detaining over 22,000.

Its message was unmistakable: Dissent will be met with bloodshed.

In the three years since, conditions in Iran have only worsened.

Hijab enforcement  is now achieved with artificial intelligence along with the state’s thugs.

Facial recognition cameras, surveillance apps and neighborhood vigilantes all police Iranian women’s clothing.

Meanwhile, decades of corruption, sanctions and mismanagement have gutted the economy, and rolling blackouts, parched farmland and water shortages pile suffering onto everyday Iranians.

The regime survived the 2022-’23 uprising and even the 12-day war with Israel, but it increasingly resembles a failed state.

Executions, already high, have surged: Nearly 1,000 Iranians last year, many for political offenses or so-called morality violations, as the Islamic Republic has weaponized the death penalty as a tool of control.

But the regime is not as invincible as it pretends.

For years, Tehran relied on the threat of nuclear escalation as a shield against foreign pressure.

Now, after President Donald Trump’s June “Midnight Hammer” strikes against Iran’s nuclear sites, that card is gone.

European powers have moved to “snap back” UN sanctions, which could close the door once and for all on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal.

The message to global markets is clear: Iran’s economy won’t be normalized under this regime.

If Trump follows with maximum enforcement — cutting off Iran’s oil shipments to China and rolling back its grip on Iraq’s energy and financial sectors — the regime’s economic lifeline could collapse, making it harder to pay off security forces and buy domestic quiet.

Even under today’s repression, Iranians are not silent.

The Foundation for Defense of Democracies has tracked more than 2,500 protests over the past year — 186 in August, and another 43 these last two weeks.

These demonstrations range from small gatherings to large marches, spanning provinces and pulling in every demographic: students and shopkeepers, the secular and the religious, the rich and the poor.

Their persistence matters.

Iran’s rulers depend on the illusion that fear has crushed dissent.

But the ongoing rhythm of protest proves otherwise: The fire that Mahsa Amini lit has not burned out.

The key question now is whether Iran is on the edge of real change, or yet another bloody cycle of executions and mass arrests.

The hopeful case is that the Islamic Republic has never looked weaker, with its nuclear deterrent smashed, its economy a disaster and its legitimacy evaporated.

Women walk unveiled in defiance every day; young men chant against the Supreme Leader; minorities refuse to stay silent.

The people’s will for freedom is stronger than the regime’s claim to power.

The darker case is that the ayatollahs still command an enormous security machine — and have shown they will use it without hesitation.

Internet blackouts, prison torture, firing squads: These are not relics of the past, but tools of the present.

The likeliest outcome is a mix of both — cycles of protest and suppression, hope followed by horror.

But every cycle weakens the regime’s grip, erodes its legitimacy and emboldens its people.

America and its allies cannot dictate Iran’s future. But they can tilt the balance.

Consistent pressure on Tehran — through sanctions, accountability for human rights abuses and support for civil society — can amplify the voices of Iranians demanding change.

Looking away, by contrast, only guarantees more repression.

Mahsa Amini’s death exposed the cruelty of a regime built on fear.

On the third anniversary of her death, her name is still whispered in protests, chanted in underground meetings and written on walls.

She is not forgotten.

The world should be clear-eyed: Iran is either on the brink of liberation — or at risk of plunging into another wave of executions.

The difference may lie in whether the free world decides to stand with the Iranian people, or give the ayatollahs the benefit of time.

Mahsa Amini did not choose martyrdom. But in death, she has become the regime’s greatest threat: The immortal symbol of what freedom looks like when ordinary citizens demand it.

Behnam Ben Taleblu is senior director of the Iran Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, where Richard Goldberg is a senior advisor.