When Control Becomes Impossible

I salute the brave people of Iran. Ordinary Iranians prepared to walk directly into water cannon fire, kneel in the streets as helmeted police move in on motorbikes with batons at the ready, face down bullets from riot squads.

It is humbling to read their testimonies.

"Most of us understand the risks, yet we still go because we are tired of the regime. I would be happy if they killed me - we will not back down this time.

"They say it's better to die on the path to freedom than to die at home from anger."

"I protest for two reasons: either to be shot in the forehead because I have nothing else to lose or a fundamental change, whatever that is. Believe me, I prefer death."

The most dangerous people in the world are those who have nothing left to lose. Regimes can torture and imprison, destroy the individuals they target, but when ordinary people decide they would rather die than keep living in the same way, then control becomes impossible.

The Islamic Republic has always ruled through fear, but that fear has now gone. The violent backlash to these peaceful street protests just proves to the protestors that life under the regime is worse than death.

Many things have led to this tipping point - an economic collapse, unemployment, food scarcity, widespread drought, extreme repression of women's rights, regular public executions. Instead of addressing the needs of its own population, the regime wastes milllions funding numerous terrorist organisations around the world including Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.

Imagine how different the Middle East could look if the Iranian people manage to topple this tyrannical regime.