Trump has historic chance to help topple Iran’s America-hating regime
Protests have swept all 31 of Iran’s provinces, defying the regime’s efforts to crush dissent through internet blackouts and lethal force. In an unprecedented step, a U.S. president has publicly pledged support for the Iranian people, warning that continued repression could invite American intervention. With Iran’s leadership facing its gravest internal challenge in decades, the United States must now match rhetoric with action and help the Iranian people translate unrest into real pressure to collapse the regime.
While these protests originally addressed financial hardships among Tehran’s shopkeepers, they have quickly spiraled into a nationwide movement calling for the ayatollah’s downfall.
Despite the Iranian rial’s value reaching an all-time low in December due to international sanctions, and with Iran experiencing its worst drought in 40 years, the regime has continued exporting its Islamic Revolution. Iran’s constant military build-up and foreign intervention have left many Iranians unable to afford groceries or access clean water, prompting demonstrations against the country’s resource mismanagement beginning Dec. 28, 2025.
Underlying tensions from the 2022 murder of Mahsa Amini, whose brutal killing by Iran’s Morality Police sparked the global “Women, Life, Freedom” protests, have only intensified since the 12-Day War as the regime increasingly detains those it considers “threats” to its authority, including minorities and alleged Sharia law violators.
Beyond internal strife, Iran’s radical government and its Axis of Resistance lie at the core of instability in the Middle East.
Since 1979, Iran and its terrorist proxies in Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, and the Palestinian territories have endangered Americans and U.S. allies by launching terrorist attacks and igniting wars while also hindering the region’s economic growth and human capital. For instance, Houthi attacks in the Red Sea have disrupted international trade and oil operations in the Arabian Peninsula while Iran-backed fighters have killed hundreds of Americans in the Middle East.
As Iran advanced its nuclear program, amassed more than 2,500 ballistic missiles, and smuggled weapons to its proxies, the regime has destroyed its economy, leaving its citizens without basic needs.
EXILED IRANIAN PRINCE SAYS REGIME ‘VERY CLOSE TO COLLAPSING’ AMID NATIONWIDE UNREST
While exerting control domestically and struggling to preserve its failing government, Iran relies on Russian and Chinese support amidst political isolation and international sanctions. As Iran provides China with discounted oil and illegally exports weapons to Russia to sustain the Kremlin’s war effort, Moscow and Beijing politically and militarily support Tehran while also facilitating sanctions evasion. Together, they advance anti-Western sentiments, seeking to undermine U.S. power.
With the regime at its weakest, now is the time for the United States and its allies to extinguish the Ayatollah’s dying flame, while also learning from, and making up for, the failed 1953 U.S.-backed Iranian coup by launching a comprehensive strategy to support the Iranian people in expedite the regime’s collapse.
To start, the Trump administration should establish new State Department projects to help Iranians access secure Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). Approximately 86% of Iranians use VPNs to bypass government restrictions and online surveillance. With expanded access to more secure VPNs amidst the internet outage, Iranians can more safely organize protests and express dissent with a lowered risk of message interception.
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The United States should also pressure its partners to sanction Chinese companies that sell advanced surveillance technology to Iran, complicating the regime’s ability to obtain these devices. While the United States has sanctioned Tiandy Technologies, Huawei, and ZTE Corporation, several American partners maintain business ties with these suppliers. The European Commission recommended banning European Union cooperation with Huawei and ZTE in 2020, but officials have yet to sign the recommendation into law.
To disrupt the government’s monitoring and harassment of protesters, the United States and its partners should utilize all available cyber tools to compromise Iranian surveillance systems. Specifically, these forces should target government CCTV networks, counter efforts to build the National Information Network (NIN), a network that monitors Iranian internet traffic and restricts content, and erase Department 40’s Revealer database where the government’s cyber intelligence unit stores citizens’ personal information collected for spying on and threatening dissidents worldwide.
Lastly, the United States and its allies should prepare an asymmetric military campaign plan in the event of renewed conflict with Iran. In contrast to President Barack Obama’s hesitation to address the 2009 Green Movement, President Donald Trump should honor his warning to the Ayatollah by drafting a target list of Iranian government entities that primarily repress free speech and violate human rights, such as the military’s command and control centers, cyber police headquarters, and Morality Police establishments.
With a comprehensive strategy to facilitate the Iranian regime’s collapse, the United States and its partners can support the Iranian people in their decades-long struggle for freedom, paving the way for a more secure Middle East.
Sarah Havdala is a Policy Analyst at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA).
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