After Trump attacks Iran, the collapse of the Iranian regime is possible, the authors say

There is much to say as an Iranian-American who has devoted my entire career to the promise of such a moment. And now, it’s finally here.

watching Iranian It feels real to pour into the streets waving the lion-sun flag, singing old freedom songs and crying tears of disbelief. These are people who have literally buried their children for a chance at freedom. Their happiness has ended on a day that they never thought they would experience after 47 years of suffocation.

It is hard to understand that people so desperate for justice, so hungry for freedom, are launching military attacks on their own soil as the price of liberation. They know the price of freedom better than anyone. Yet while Iranians dance and pray for the nation’s rebirth, many voices in America are dismissing this moment as a “second war for oil,” a favor to Israel or a boon for defense contractors.

Iranian worshipers raise their hands as a sign of solidarity with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to protest the attack on Iran in central Tehran, Iran, on June 20, 2025. (Morteza Nicoubazal/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Such cynicism misunderstands both the stack and the strategy. It is a deliberate, calculated intervention designed to end nearly five decades of war with the Islamic Republic. The Trump administration’s policy imperative has never been “regime change” for its own sake. Iran’s to make sure Governments never have nuclear weapons And not terrorizing our neighbors or Americans abroad.

But in carrying out those attacks and destroying the regime’s military infrastructure, President Trump has effectively done what previous presidents feared. They have shocked the Islamic Republic Constriction point. And in his remarks about the Iranian people, he made it clear that it was now up to them to redefine their own destiny. The US will not send troops to occupy Tehran or rebuild Iran from the outside. America will stand behind the Iranians morally, politically, and technologically, but with fewer boots on the ground.

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Cars are burned on the street in protest against currency devaluation in Tehran, Iran, January 8, 2026. (via Stringer/WANA (West Asia News Agency) REUTERS)

Iran is not Iraq. It is not Afghanistan. The Iranian people are not a fragmented tribe bound together by foreign intervention. They are a proud, educated and deeply patriotic nation that remembers the days before the Islamic Republic. Decades of repression, censorship and brutality did not break their spirit. Thousands were imprisoned, tortured or executed. Women have risked their lives to remove hijab in public. Journalists have disappeared to print the truth. Students chanting “Death to the Dictator” have been shot or hanged. These people are ready, and in many ways, they are Their revolution has already begun.

Let me be very clear: America did not start a war with the Islamic Republic. In 1979, when militants stormed our embassy in Tehran, captured 52 American diplomats and held them hostage for 444 days, the regime declared war on us. Since then, its leaders and proxies have attacked our military, our allies, and even ordinary citizens through terrorism and assassinations. Middle East. This has been their strategy since day one Export terrorism To maintain power in the house.

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Supporters of the Iranian monarchy carry placards and flags during a demonstration in central London. Supporters of Crown Prince Raza Pahlavi gathered in central London for marches and rallies organized in coordination with protests in Los Angeles, Toronto and Munich. (James Willoughby/Sopa Images/Lightrocket via Getty Images)

Over the decades, successive administrations chose to tolerate or moderate that aggression. President Donald Trumpalong with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, chose to confront him. In doing so, he not only neutralized one of the world’s most dangerous regimes, but also gave the Iranian people their first real window of freedom in two generations.

Yes, this campaign is strategic and yes, it is in America’s interest. A non-nuclear, theocratic Iran means more stability in the Middle East, a reduced threat to US forces, and a major blow to global terrorism.

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As the festival stretches from Tehran Los AngelesOne truth is unmistakable: this time is different. Iranians are not waiting for the US to bring democracy; They are taking it over themselves. And the world, finally, is no longer looking away. Let’s celebrate together.

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