Iran’s Uprising: Precursor to a New Revolution

“The unrest that flared up in response to [Mahsa Amini’s] death has been virtually unprecedented and provides the international community with perhaps the clearest reminder that the Iranian people abhor authoritarianism.”

Mahsa Amini died on September 16th under suspicious circumstances after her arrest by Iran’s Guidance Patrol, the regime’s morality police, for wearing her hijab too loosely, likely beaten to death by the police. This event may have unwittingly set in motion the wheels of a new revolution and an end to religious rule in Iran. The unrest that flared up in response to her death has been virtually unprecedented and provides the international community with perhaps the clearest reminder that the Iranian people abhor authoritarianism. That is true for the self-anointed monarchs of the past or the authoritarian, unelected mullahs of the present. For this reason, Iranian-Americans (including in my home state of Pennsylvania) and members of Congress have been among the millions across the globe who have expressed solidarity with the Iranian people and urged the United States to recognize their resistance both politically and morally.

Even before these widespread protests began, Congressmen Scott Perry, Brian Fitzpatrick, and Guy Reschenthaler of Pennsylvania were among the fifty-two members of Congress who authored a bipartisan letter asking the White House to deny Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, an entry visa to the United States.

“Given Ebrahim Raisi’s record of supporting terrorism and violating human rights, he should not be afforded the privilege to step onto American soil,” Congressmen Perry, Fitzpatrick, Reschenthaler, and the members wrote in early September. “We cannot turn a blind eye to perpetrators of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights and cruel regimes that endanger both their people and Americans,” they continued.

President Raisi did, unfortunately, enter the United States, and he used his September 21st United Nations speech to spew lies and hatred. All the while, the protests for democratic regime change continued to brew inside and outside of Iran.