Iran is enduring one of the bleakest chapters of state terror in its modern history — a battered nation held hostage by a ruthless theocracy that has made it the undisputed capital of capital punishment on Earth.

This year alone, the regime has executed 1,936 people. The bloodshed has only accelerated with the current administration: since Masoud Pezeshkian assumed office, the gallows have claimed 2,638 lives, among them 57 women.

These are not impersonal statistics to be filed away in human rights reports; they are the unmasked visage of a regime in mortal terror of its own people and the organized resistance it can no longer suppress.

This is not routine repression; it is the death rattle of a collapsing theocracy. Driven to paroxysms of violence by economic implosion, cascading protests, and intensifying global pressure, Tehran is broadcasting panic, not strength.

The frequency of mass hangings provides chilling evidence of this desperation. In one instance, it hanged 24 prisoners in a single morning; by the end of one recent month, 336 had been executed — the bloodiest toll since the 1980s.

The targets are often those linked to the opposition, demonstrating the political motivation behind the purges. Two political prisoners were hanged in July for ties to the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK). Today, 18 more, including a 22-year-old university prodigy, a 30-year-old national boxing champion, and a 67-year-old mother, face imminent death on the same charge, serving as an explicit warning against dissent.

The message is clear: the regime is trying to murder hope itself. Yet, the Iranian people refuse to yield.

Despite facing unimaginable repression, the movement for democratic change persists. From Tehran to Tabriz, from university campuses to factory floors, to refineries, resistance units affiliated with the MEK defy the dictatorship daily, paying with torture, imprisonment, and their lives to keep the flame of freedom alive.

Their persistent struggle fundamentally exposes the regime’s fatal weakness: a society that has irrevocably withdrawn its consent, and an organized resistance it cannot eradicate.

This grim reality is finally piercing the policy delusions of Western capitals. Europe is awakening from decades of self-deception. The old strategy of dialogue, “critical engagement,” and hoping for reform from within has been answered with missiles, hostage-taking, terrorism abroad, nuclear defiance, and mass executions at home.

The flawed axiom that regional stability requires preserving the theocracy has crumbled beneath the weight of its own contradictions. The truth is now undeniable: The greatest threat to stability is no longer regime change; it is the unchecked survival of a regime in its terminal stage.

A principled, transatlantic policy is long overdue. The democratic world must pursue relentless diplomatic condemnation of every execution and human-rights atrocity, combined with ironclad economic strangulation through full sanctions enforcement, choking off oil revenue, and dismantling evasion networks.

Crucially, this strategy requires the immediate designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization by the European Union, joining the United States, Canada, and Australia, which have already taken this essential step.

Finally, the world must unequivocally affirm that the Iranian people possess the inalienable right, enshrined in international law and the founding charters of free nations, to resist tyranny and overthrow their oppressors.

The viable alternative to this regime is neither chaos nor monarchy nor fragmentation. Bipartisan resolutions in Washington and growing parliamentary majorities across Europe now recognize what was long denied: it is a coherent, democratic coalition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), led by its President-elect Maryam Rajavi. The Iranian people have already made their choice. They reject both the shah’s dictatorship and the mullahs’ theocracy, demanding one future alone: a secular, democratic republic in which sovereignty resides with the people.

This future is articulated in Rajavi’s 10-point Plan: free and fair elections, gender equality, separation of religion and state, abolition of the death penalty, an independent judiciary, and a non-nuclear Iran committed to peace with its neighbors. It is a vision that mirrors the highest ideals of the democratic world. The movement has not only presented a clear roadmap to a free Iran but has also been battle-tested through decades of resistance.

As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has reminded us, “The arc of the moral universe bends slowly, but it bends toward justice.” In Iran today, that arc is bending, forged by the sacrifice of fearless youth who chant or spray paint “Down with the Oppressor, be it the Shah or the Leader” on city walls, sustained by Maryam Rajavi’s steadfast leadership, and propelled by millions who refuse to bow.

History now stands at a crossroads. The Iranian people are watching. The world is watching.

Will democracies finally align their policies with their principles, standing resolutely with a nation struggling to be free, rather than with the executioners who slaughter them?

Will they recognize that the alternative to clerical despotism is not a void, but a battle-tested democratic movement ready to govern? This is not merely about Iran; it is about whether democracy still possesses the courage of its convictions.

The era of hesitation must end. By extending decisive moral, political, and strategic support to the Iranian people and their organized resistance, the free world can shorten the bloodshed and hasten the dawn of a free, secular, democratic, and non-nuclear Iran.

The hour for democratic resolve has come.

Ali Safavi (@amsafavi) is a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).