The People's Revolution in Iran

People protest on Parliament Hill in Ottawa Sunday as they call for the overthrow of Iran's Islamic Republic. (Campbell MacDiarmid/CBC)

 

"We're seeing millions of Iranians out in the streets chanting 'Death to the dictator, Death to the Islamic Republic.' They're also chanting 'this is the final battle, Pahlavi will return." Pahlavi, of course, is his royal  highness, the crown prince of Iran. And the reason that they're calling for Pahlavi to return is because Pahlavi is the only person that Iranians trust to transition them from a totalitarian Islamic dictatorship into a functioning secular, democratic society."

"At the same time, we're also seeing horrific footage of Islamic regime terrorists who are literally just opening fire, shooting into crowds of unarmed Iranians. But, we're also seeing videos of Iranians who are fight back. Some of them are using homemade Molotov cocktails."

The only reason that Iranians are now able to have a fighting chance against the Islamic dictatorship is because of what Israel did back in the summer during the 120-day conflict [in a joint effort with the U.S. bombing military installations and nuclear factories]. They severely weakened the Islamic regime. And so it's a large reason for why Iranians have been so successful right now, and are continuing to fight back."

Iranian-Canadian activist Goldie Ghamari, former Ontario MPP

Iranians block a street in Tehran on Friday.  Getty

 

Over 280,000 Iranians live in Canada. Some of them arrived directly following the Islamic Revolution of 1979, immigrating to Canada, exiling themselves voluntarily from their homeland rather than live under an oppressive totalitarian regime. Others followed over the years, to become Iranian-Canadians. They now represent over 0.8 percent of Canada's population. They came to flee religious persecution, to live in peace and freedom in a democratic country that welcomes immigrants and always has. To their great disappointment, however, Canadian authorities have also permitted the ingress of hundreds of regime officials, including members of the Islamic Republican Guard Corps. 

 

The Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, fled Iran with his family with the return to Iran from France of Shi'ie cleric Ruhollah Khomeini and the resulting chaotic havoc of the Iranian Revolution that deposed him. Old and ailing, in the final throes of cancer, the Shah died soon afterward in exile in Egypt. His son and heir Reza Pahlavi lives now in the United States. From there he watched and waited as Iranians have been persecuted by their own theocratic government, took note as the population occasionally rebelled and were beaten back by the IRGC under orders of the Republic's current leader, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. 

 

Protesters block a street during a demonstration in Kermanshah, Iran, on Thursday.

Kamran/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images

 

Now 65, Crown Prince Pahlavi began planning a project called the Iran Prosperity Project, working alongside Iranian civil society groups since 2023, as they mapped out a post-authoritarian transition government. It is a plan calling for secular democratization to follow a time of emergency organizational work to stabilize the country. He rejects the vision of himself as a monarch waiting opportunistically in the wings, projecting himself as a leader of national reconciliation in dedication to service of Iran and its people. In turn, he is being increasingly viewed as a unifier and perhaps interim leader as the country repositions and heals itself.

 

Iran International, based in the United Kingdom as a diaspora-led media group, has estimated that at the very least several thousand Iranians have died in the first two days of the regime crackdown on the mass demonstrations calling for its departure from government. The demonstrations have swelled in numbers and locations to the point where the entire country has committed to bringing down the repressive government and its leaders and enablers. In the past two weeks millions of people within and outside Iran have demonstrated. In Iran, government structures and symbols and security infrastructure have been set afire.

 

Activists holding "Make Iran Great Again" signs take part in a "Free Iran" rally in Los Angeles, Calif., on Jan. 11, 2026.  Jonathan Alcorn—Getty Images

 

Throughout the world diaspora Iranians have held solidarity protests, waving national symbols predating the Islamic regime, flying the old lion-and-sun flag. In Canada, from Toronto to Vancouver, Montreal and Ottawa, crowds have come out in support of this new, evolving revolution toward freedom from oppression and persecution. Iranian lawyer and human rights activist Kaveh Shahrooz speaks to Iran's isolation linked to Israel's emasculating Iran's regional proxies Hamas and Hezbollah. He warns of the presence of Iranian officials; members of the IRGC who have moved to Canada or safeguarded their wealth in Canadian banks.

 

That despite the federal government finally listing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, enforcement of laws associated with that terrorist recognition have been "really weak". Former regime political prisoner and human rights activist Salman Sima felt that Canada is in fact a "semi-safe" country for regime critics. He spoke of over 700 IRGC agents living in Canada, regularly harassing Iranian anti-government Canadians, with no federal government reaction.  

"Iran's mullahs have survived numerous previous outbursts of public rage and may yet survive this one, but the extent of the protests is clearly unsettling them. Cries of 'Death to the dictator', and 'Pahlavi will return' challenge the very foundations of the revolution."

"Demonstrations have spread far beyond the capital to virtually all Iran's provinces and a reported 180 cities. On Friday the government shut down the internet and international telephone networks following calls by Reza Pahlavi, son of the late Shah, to continue and expand the protests." 

"Khamenei blames Israel and U.S. President Donald Trump for the protests, warning in a televised address Friday: "The Islamic Republic came to power through the blood of several hundred thousand honourable people and it will not back down in the face of those who deny this."

Kelly McParland, National Post