The Islamic Republic built its identity on two chants, “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.” It painted US and Israeli flags on Tehran’s sidewalks so people could trample them. It spent 47 years exporting terror through proxies, pouring Iranian money into Hezbollah and the Houthis, and treating permanent confrontation as a governing principle.
Now, in a twist the regime never prepared for, Iranians in the streets are addressing their pleas to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump. Some are renaming streets after Trump. They are filming video messages aimed at Washington and Jerusalem, not Brussels.
That is the moment. It is also the moral test.
The death toll remains hard to verify because the regime throttles communications and blocks documentation. Still, the picture is ghastly. At The Jerusalem Post, we reported that Iran International estimated over 12,000 killed, while stressing the figures are unconfirmed, and that a US-based rights organization, HRANA, has confirmed at least 646 deaths with additional cases under review. Israeli officials told the Post that the estimates are between 2,000 and 3,000 Iranians killed. The UN human rights chief says he is “horrified” by the violence and that “this cycle of horrific violence cannot continue,” while UN sources cite tolls in the hundreds.
Those gaps in the numbers do not soften the reality. The regime is shooting, arresting, and threatening its own people at scale. Iran’s foreign minister still tries to reframe the uprising as “terrorism,” and still points the finger at Israel. This is the same playbook Tehran uses every time its grip slips, blame an outside enemy, then tighten the screws at home.
President Trump, you have already chosen a side with your words. On Tuesday, you told “Iranian Patriots” to “KEEP PROTESTING,” to “TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS,” and that “HELP IS ON ITS WAY.” Iranians heard it. The regime heard it. The region heard it.
Words alone will not stop the killing
If you want the legacy of a peacemaker, this is where peace begins, with the end of a regime that finances regional war, threatens to destroy Israel, and treats Americans as targets and bargaining chips. The Islamic Republic does not threaten only Jerusalem. It threatens every capital that wants a stable Middle East, safe shipping lanes, and an energy market that is not held hostage by the Revolutionary Guard.
Israel has prepared for this day for decades. Israeli intelligence has mapped the regime and its networks with patience and precision. That work was meant for moments when history cracks open and gives decision makers one narrow path to change the region’s trajectory.
Washington should lead, and Jerusalem should support, in a way that helps Iranians and protects Israelis.
That starts with communications. The regime’s blackout is part of the killing. Help Iranians stay connected, organize, document, and tell the truth. It continues with financial pressure that targets the regime’s power centers, not ordinary families trying to buy bread. It means isolating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the security apparatus that carries out the crackdown. It means making clear, publicly and privately, that massacres bring consequences.
It also means planning for the day after. A collapsing regime can lash out. Tehran can try one final strike at Israel to change the subject and rally the base. US forces in the region can become targets. Allies will worry about chaos, refugees, and nuclear facilities. Those risks are real, and they demand preparation, deterrence, and coordination.
They do not justify paralysis.
Iranians are handing the free world something rare: a clear signal of where power actually sits and who the regime actually fears. When protesters write your names on their signs, they are issuing an invitation and a warning. They are saying they cannot survive another round of sympathetic statements followed by diplomatic drift.
The UN will speak. It has spoken. The speeches will not pull people out of prison. The condemnations will not reopen the Internet. The statements will not stop the bullets.
Only decisive leadership can do that.
President Trump, treat this as a historic moment because it is one. Stand with the Iranian people in practical ways, with speed, and with a strategy that ends the regime’s ability to murder its citizens and export terror abroad.
Azadi (freedom, in Farsi). Make Iran Great Again.