‘Brave Iranian protestors are being butchered – we need action not words’

The Iranian people need our support. Millions of brave people have taken to the streets to demand their freedom after decades of repression under a brutal, theocratic dictatorship. Yet they are being slaughtered. Approximately 43,000 people have been killed, 350,000 injured, 20,000 arrested and await possible execution. The internet blackout means we do not know the full extent, but horrifying footage is emerging, and we know this regime deliberately targets those who dissent by firing at their eyes, their genitals and by disappearing and torturing those it arrests.

Let’s be frank. Statements of condemnation at the UN or elsewhere are not going to stop the regime because they simply don’t value human life. This is a regime that oppresses, kills and tortures its own people, especially women and LGBT people. They have also ruined lives beyond their borders for decades. Half a million people died in Syria at the hands of the Assad regime, with Iran providing Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) fighters and $50 billion. They provide the Shahed drones that are terrorising Ukrainians – on my own visits to Kyiv I’ve had to seek shelter in bunkers to avoid them. 

READ MORE: Hamish Falconer to anti-government protestors in Iran: ‘You are not alone’

And they threaten our security here at home too – since 2022 alone there have been 20 plots against British nationals or Iranian dissidents, and spread disinformation with their bot accounts.

The only thing that will stop the regime from killing its own citizens is targeted military action to degrade its repressive capacity. That means targeting the IRGC, its command structure and physical and digital infrastructure. Target the leadership, their bases and weapons depots, their communications and surveillance equipment, and you limit their ability to crackdown and kill the protestors. Anything that even slows them down could save lives. As I urged ministers in Parliament, our government should be working with allies and partners, including the US, to take action as soon as possible.

For years, the late Jo Cox MP and the Syrian activists I worked with called for similar strikes to stop Assad bombing and gassing his own people. Whilst much of the focus was on chemical weapons, most of the killing was actually the result of crude ‘barrel bombs’ filled with shrapnel dropped from helicopters. Targeted airstrikes from Royal Navy ships in the Mediterranean could have destroyed Assad’s air force with relative ease, with no civilian loss of life or risk to our forces. No strikes came, and half million people died as a result. The world should not make the same mistake again.

JOIN LABOURLIST ‘IN CONVERSATION’ WITH STEVE ROTHERAM ON 3rd FEB

Having made that call, I want to address some of the likely arguments against action. 

First of all, some worry any outside help would undermine the protestors as it risks legitimising the regime’s claim they are Western ‘puppets.’ But without Western help, the regime is already claiming this as justification for their crackdown, so what difference would it make? More importantly, it is Iranian activists themselves that are calling for that help, and we should listen.

Second, some will worry about undermining the rules-based system. But the UN’s 2005 agreement on the Responsibility to Protect establishes the principle that the international community has a responsibility to intervene when a state is killing its own people. We do need a conversation about the rules-based system in due course. In my own view this began to break down when Obama set a red line in Syria and did nothing when Assad broke it by gassing his own people. Putin was emboldened to invade Ukraine (Crimea) shortly after. But that important debate must not delay us from acting in Iran today.

Third, it could be argued we and our allies risk being overstretched and must focus on Ukraine. But President Zelenskyy himself has urged the world to help the Iranian people, for the ‘clear signal to every bully – kill enough people, and you stay in power.’ Remember as well that Iran is providing Putin with the Shahed drones that are killing Ukrainian civilians. If the Iranian regime falls, it weakens Putin, and helps our collective efforts in Ukraine.

Subscribe here to our daily newsletter roundup of Labour news, analysis and comment– and follow us on Bluesky, WhatsApp, X and Facebook.

Fourth, as a former presenter on Iranian regime-controlled Press TV Jeremy Corbyn claimed in Parliament the other day, if the regime does fall, what replaces it could be worse. Given the number of people that have died in Iran and around the world, how much worse could it be? 

Comparisons with other countries are unwise, but even they do not stand up to scrutiny. Commenting on Iran, the Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Emily Thornberry has cautioned that ‘all you get when you cut the head of a snake is a dead snake.’ At a panel we were both on at Labour Conference back in 2021, she made a similar remark about removing Assad. Yet every Syrian activist I work with was absolutely joyous when that regime fell, and whilst the situation in the country today is fragile, they remain optimistic about a nation gradually rebuilding. What about Libya? Don’t forget that Gaddafi called protesters “cockroaches” and vowed to cleanse Libya “inch by inch, house by house, home by home, alleyway by alleyway.” The problem was not the initial intervention, but failure to support the country to rebuild. That is why I have urged the government to plan now for how we might be able to support a democratic transition from the first day after the Iranian regime falls, as we are trying to do in Syria.

Finally, just because people shout the loudest it doesn’t mean they should be listened to. The ‘Useful Idiots’ on the far left have dominated debates on foreign policy for too long. They have no credibility to lecture anyone on what should happen in Iran. If you’ve presented shows or appeared on Iran’s Press TV or Putin’s Russia TV, if you’ve signed a ‘book of condolence’ in solidarity with fallen dictator Maduro at the Venezuelan embassy, if you’ve hosted panels against intervening in Syria but not let Syrian refugees speak, or you’ve spoken at an event celebrating the ‘victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran’…then you should sit this one out. Trust me, the Iranian people don’t want to hear from them. 

Share your thoughts. Contribute on this story or tell your own by writing to our Editor. The best letters every week will be published on the site. Find out how to get your letter published.

If you’re still not convinced, ask yourself this. If you were living under a dictatorship that had for years told you how to live your life, who you can love, what you can wear, whether or not you can work, or ruined the economy so much you can barely make ends meet. If you had decided to take to the streets to demand change, only to see your friends and relatives gunned down in cold blood. Would you want the world to come to your aid? To help with actions, and not just words?

• • SHARE: If you have anything to share that we should be looking into or publishing about this story – or any other topic involving Labour– contact us (strictly anonymously if you wish) at [email protected].
  • SUBSCRIBE: Sign up to LabourList’s morning email here for the best briefing on everything Labour, every weekday morning.
  • DONATE: If you value our work, please chip in a few pounds a week and become one of our supporters, helping sustain and expand our coverage.
  • PARTNER: If you or your organisation might be interested in partnering with us on sponsored events or projects, email [email protected].
  • ADVERTISE: If your organisation would like to advertise or run sponsored pieces on LabourList‘s daily newsletter or website, contact our exclusive ad partners Total Politics at [email protected].