Exclusive to The Beiruter, Iranian activist Lily Moo: This is the end!

Iran has just witnessed the biggest wave of protests since the 1979 revolution overthrew the Shah, ushering in nearly five decades of rule by the Islamic Republic. Now the tide has turned, and many believe the son of the late Shah could play a key role in determining the country’s future.

Elaaheh Jamali is a prominent human rights activist, based in London, and campaigning against the current Iranian regime. On social media, she is known as Lily Moo. The stormy events since just before the start of this year convinces her that change is inevitable.

“This revolution is happening because of ongoing atrocities that took place over the last 47 years including an imposed lifestyle of extreme poverty on one of the wealthiest nations on the planet.”

Not only are Iranians fed up of their own government, she says, but also those forces supported by Teheran for many years. Millions of people across the region know exactly who she is talking about.

“The people have had enough of this induced poverty at the hands of a terrorist-birthing regime that pays for the luxuries of their Muslim Brotherhood proxies while destroying Iranian nature, infrastructure, and families. Iranian people have had enough of rape torture and oppression.”

The protests began in a few weeks ago because of record-high inflation and a rapid depreciation of the currency. It spread like wildfire among the bazaari class and students who were exactly the kind of people that brought the Shah down in 1979. In 2026, they have been marching and chanting for the end of the Islamic Republic.

As has been seen on our TV screens, the state deployed all its powers to crush the uprising including shootings on the streets and filmed show trials. Families seeking to retrieve the bodies of loved ones killed by the authorities have been ordered to sign declarations condemning the protests and pay enormous fees to release their dead from the mortuaries. Elaaheh (Lily Moo) is furious at these developments.

“This brutal and deadly crackdown against innocent Iranian people will inspire the biggest rage against the continuation of this regime. Iranian people will not let go of the murders of their family. Iranian people will not leave the streets despite the murderous crackdown against our innocent protestors seeking regime change, seeking freedom.”

Cynics will note that there have been uprisings in the past that fizzled out, leading to no change. For example, in September 2022, demonstrations clogged the streets over the death in police custody of a 22-year-old woman arrested by the Guidance Patrol for not wearing the hijab in the specified manner. The result of this incident was the Women, Life, Freedom movement that resulted in hundreds of killings of protestors.

Can we be sure that the mass murder perpetrated by the state will not choke off this uprising? Elaaheh believes that these protests represent a new level of popular defiance. It’s an existential moment for the dictatorial mullahs. But the world must stand behind this struggle for democracy.

“The regime in Iran has been falling from power for the past two decades, but it has sustained its dying existence through brutal force, which has resuscitated it time and again. It’s also endured by using its proxies in the Middle East. The international community must also shoulder some of the blame for the regime’s survival through silence.”

This time, the IRGC (the pro-government Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) has gone too far.  “Iranian people are facing bullets from the IRGC with bodies piling up in the streets of Iran, throughout every single province in the country, this regime has no room left for its own resuscitation.”

The big question, however, is what comes next? The 1979 revolution was, in effect, hijacked by Iran’s top clergy who resented the Shah’s attempts at modernisation and bitterly opposed land reform. But there were also other forces with different agendas who resented that revolution being diverted towards a theocratic regime. Today, the population, especially the youth, are desperate for change. The stifling dead hand of an elderly clergy is suffocating development.

Lily Moo argues that the son of the late Shah, Reza Pahlavi, has a role to play in effecting peaceful change.

“What will replace this regime must be a democratic and secular system chosen by the people of Iran. In my view, and based on the voices coming out of Iran, in remarkable unity, the transition away from this murderous Islamic Republic will be led by His Royal Highness, Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi.”

So, what kind of government would replace the Islamic Republic?

“My prediction is that Iran will move towards a constitutional monarchy, with a democratic government, and an elected parliament, and with HRH Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi serving as Head of State during the transition period. This process will be entirely democratic and achieved through a referendum.”

She is careful to point out that the majority decision must prevail. Iran needs to choose its own destiny.

“I want to be clear, this is a prediction, not an imposition. Ultimately only the people of Iran will decide what form of government they wish to live under once this regime falls. However, I am confident that the transition will be led by HRH Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, the one unifying and trusted figure who stands above factions and commands widespread support among Iranians in their struggle against this tyrannical regime.”