Voices from Inside Iran Condemn Brutal Crackdown, Reject Foreign Intervention, and Call for Democratic Self-Determination

A major new statement by Mehdi Karroubi describes the current situation as a national catastrophe rooted in decades of destructive domestic and foreign policies under Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

A growing number of political figures, human rights activists, civil society actors, and student groups from inside Iran—alongside aligned diaspora organizations—have issued forceful statements condemning the state’s violent crackdown on protesters while explicitly rejecting foreign military intervention and foreign-imposed regime change as a path forward. The statements come as Iran copes with the aftermath of some of its bloodiest days in decades as a result of a major government crackdown on nationwide demonstrations.

At the forefront of these interventions is a major new statement by Mehdi Karroubi, former Speaker of Parliament and a leading figure of Iran’s reform movement, who described the current situation as a national catastrophe rooted in decades of destructive domestic and foreign policies under Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. In his statement, Karroubi expressed profound mourning for the victims of what he described as an unspeakable crime, extending condolences to families who were denied even the right to hold dignified funeral ceremonies for their loved ones. He emphasized that peaceful protest is a fundamental right, and that protecting citizens’ lives and security is the primary responsibility of the state’s security and law-enforcement institutions. Any failure to uphold this duty—particularly when authorities invoke claims of “foreign agents”—rests entirely with the government itself, according to Karroubi.

Karroubi categorically rejected any attempt to justify the killings, the mistreatment and desecration of victims’ bodies, or the scale of repression unleashed against demonstrators. He called for the formation of a truly independent investigative body, composed of trusted civil society figures, to establish the accurate number of those killed, injured, and harmed, and demanded the immediate and unconditional release of all detained protesters, rather than continued politically-motivated prosecutions.

Placing responsibility directly on Iran’s highest authority, Karroubi stated that Iran’s current disastrous condition is the direct outcome of Ali Khamenei’s domestic and international policies, citing in particular the costly and ultimately fruitless nuclear project and the devastating impact of two decades of sanctions on Iranian society. He dismissed official claims that the state recognizes the right to protest, pointing to a long record in which lawful demands in demonstrations were met with batons, bullets, beatings, arbitrary detention, home raids, and years of unlawful confinement.

Crucially, Karroubi stressed that freedom and democracy are achieved through the awakened will and unity of a nation—not through foreign bombs. He warned that sustained repression has pushed society to such a breaking point that many citizens no longer even trust sincere warnings about the catastrophic consequences of foreign military intervention. The same people now labeled as “rioters” or “terrorists,” he noted, were once celebrated for their sacrifice and courage in defending Iran during the Iran–Iraq war. As a peaceful and legitimate way out of the current crisis, Karroubi identified a free and fair referendum as the only viable path to restoring the people’s right to self-determination.

These positions have been reinforced by Mehdi Mahmoudian, a human rights activist and transitional political figure speaking from inside Iran, who is among the signatories of the so-called “Statement of the Group of Seventeen.” That statement directly names Ali Khamenei as personally responsible for the recent killings, declaring that “the only path to saving Iran lies in prosecuting all those who ordered and carried out repression, ending the inhumane and un-republican system in power, and forming a broad national front to hold a referendum and convene a constituent assembly—so that all Iranians, across political orientations, can democratically and consciously decide their political future.” The statement has been signed by a broad spectrum of prominent figures inside and outside Iran, including Narges Mohammadi (via her office), Nasrin Sotoudeh, Manzar Zarabi, Abolfazl Ghadyani, Hatem Ghaderi, Abdollah Momeni, Vida Rabbani, Saeed Madani, Sedigheh Vasmaghi, and several others—many of whom have endured long-term imprisonment, harassment, or systematic repression.

In an interview with BBC Persian journalist Farnaz Ghazizadeh, Mahmoudian stated unequivocally that Ali Khamenei bears responsibility for the killings during the bloody protests of Dey and must step aside and face prosecution. Addressing claims that no meaningful fractures exist within the ruling system, he argued that the government is suffering from deep crises of inefficiency and legitimacy, adding that it can no longer even satisfy its own base, and that its own forces are facing mounting economic and social pressures. According to Mahmoudian, cracks have already emerged within the power structure and will continue to widen.

At the same time, Mahmoudian explicitly rejected foreign military intervention, stating that no patriotic Iranian would ever support an external attack on their own country. He warned that foreign war would undermine domestic democratic agency, deepen social fragmentation, and derail the possibility of a homegrown, accountable transition.

Alongside these internal voices, aligned diaspora groups such as the Iranian Republicans Solidarity Group have emphasized that these statements do not reflect foreign propaganda or external agendas, but rather the lived reality of Iranian society, echoing experiences from streets, prisons, hospitals, mourning households, and everyday life during one of the most violent periods in Iran’s modern history. Despite censorship and repression, they stressed, this reality has not been silenced.

These voices have strongly condemned the systematic killing of protesters, the use of live ammunition against unarmed civilians, mass arrests, torture, sexual abuse, denial of medical care to the wounded, and the criminalization of protest, describing these acts as crimes against the Iranian people and an indelible stain on the ruling system. They have rejected efforts to delegitimize demands for political change through labels such as “rioter,” “foreign-linked,” or “terrorist,” reaffirming that the rights to protest, political participation, and self-determination are among the most fundamental rights of any nation.

At the same time, these statements draw a clear and explicit line against monarchist and Pahlavi-aligned political currents that have openly called for U.S.–Israeli military action against Iran. Many of the voices emerging from inside Iran reject any project of change imposed through external military force, warning that such approaches erase the agency of Iranian society, risk catastrophic civilian harm, and ultimately reproduce violence, dependency, and authoritarianism rather than democracy. From this perspective, foreign intervention—regardless of the language used to justify it—is incompatible with genuine democratic self-determination and poses a direct threat to Iran’s sovereignty and social cohesion.

Inside Iran’s universities, similar language has emerged. Students from the Sharif University of Technology’s Faculty of Computer Engineering declared that “the time for silence has passed.” Describing blood flowing through neighborhoods and civilians shot in streets and alleys, they rejected official narratives that recast victims as criminals or “terrorists,” noting that the same people once praised as a “noble and courageous nation” are now labeled “rioters,” “thugs,” and “terrorists.” Those killed, the students wrote, refused to accept a life of humiliation under authoritarian rule and instead faced death from the guns of forces tasked with protecting the public, not killing it.

Taken together, these statements—from senior political figures, imprisoned human rights activists, civil society leaders, and student voices inside Iran—form a rare and coherent chorus. They condemn the regime’s violent repression and insist that Iran’s future must be decided by its own people through peaceful, democratic means. Many explicitly reject monarchist and foreign-backed interventionist projects and the prospect of U.S.–Israeli war on Iran. At a moment of profound national trauma, they argue that lasting change can only emerge from truth-telling, accountability, and collective civic agency—not from imposed solutions, dynastic restoration, or the politics of war.