Al-Qalam 
Dr. Rashied Omar’s recent critique of the Islamic Republic of Iran, while framed through “peace studies,” suffers from a disqualifying omission: The systematic, illegal economic warfare waged against the Iranian people. To demand “structural reform” without acknowledging the structural asphyxiation caused by Western sanctions is a clinical misdiagnosis that only serves those seeking Iran’s total collapse.
The Invisible Violence
While critics condemn “lethal repression,” they remain silent on the “silent killing” occurring in Iranian hospitals. Comprehensive sanctions targeting the financial and oil sectors have created a blockade preventing the import of life-saving medicines for cancer and rare diseases. The skyrocketing prices of basic goods and currency volatility are intended outcomes of a “Maximum Pressure” campaign designed to immiserate 90 million citizens. To demand “irreversible reforms” while a state’s lifeblood is drained by a global financial blockade is not a call for justice; it is a call for total surrender.
The Instrumentalization of Dissent
In a sanctioned environment, every internal grievance becomes a vector for foreign exploitation. The Iranian government is in a perpetual “full-scale war” against cyber-sabotage, information operations, and the arming of fringe elements by foreign adversaries. Labelling the maintenance of order as “repression” while ignoring coordinated attacks by foreign-backed provocateurs betrays the principle of ʿadl (justice). Justice requires viewing Iran as a sovereign nation under siege, preserving its independence against an order that treats its resistance as a crime.
The Reality of Security and Civil Society
Internal security policies are defensive responses to state subversion. They are anchored in Amanah, the sacred obligation to protect citizens from foreign-engineered fragmentation. When protests escalate to the killing of security personnel and the burning of buildings, they become a paramilitary threat. State responses, including internet restrictions, are calculated as “securitization” measures to break the command structures of external agitators.
A Moral Contradiction
Sanctions destroy the middle class, the foundation of stable civic space, forcing a population into survival mode where “moral clarity” is a luxury. Freedom for Iran is not being “postponed” by a regime; it is being stolen by an international order refusing to allow Iran to exist on its own terms. Meaningful change can only emerge once the external knee is removed from the throat of the Iranian economy, allowing the people to determine their own destiny free from the weight of a global blockade.
M. Murshid Obaray
