Iran knocks on the doors of freedom

By: Hugo Marcelo Balderrama - 09/03/2026

Guest columnist.
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Between 1940 and 1970, Iran underwent a process of economic, institutional, and cultural modernization. All these changes placed the country among the most modern in Western Asia.

Although the country was a monarchy under Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, it did have political parties, educational freedom, and other spaces for social pluralism. Let's look at some facts:

According to records from the Library of Congress, the Iranian state promoted a secular, coeducational public education system from the 1940s onward. At the University of Tehran, one of the oldest in the Middle East, female participation in law, medicine, and social science programs increased year after year. Furthermore, by the mid-1970s, female enrollment in the education system reached 78%.

Furthermore, in legal matters, Iran had a legal system based on and inspired by European models and modernized Persian institutions. Since 1950, Iranian women had been active in academia, the press, the economy, and politics. In fact, after winning the right to vote in the early 1960s, the first women members of parliament were elected in 1968. The idea of ​​girls being forced to marry men who could be their grandfathers was, therefore, an abomination.

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which analyzed Iranian growth during the 1960s and 70s, the country exhibited one of the fastest urbanization rates in West Asia. Cities like Tehran boasted expanding automotive, pharmaceutical, and petrochemical industries.

Obviously, Iran wasn't perfect, as there are always things to improve. But what came next only dragged the country back to the Dark Ages.

Beginning in 1979, the year the Islamic uprisings triumphed, Iran replaced its Western-style legal system with an Islamic theocratic one. The new regime eliminated independent political parties, shut down media outlets, executed opponents, and created a moral and religious surveillance apparatus.

The impact was immediate: subjects of Western influence were expelled from universities and schools; women were practically reduced to third-class citizens; the legal age for marriage was lowered to nine years; the veil became mandatory throughout the country; Christians and other religious groups saw their freedoms completely curtailed; criminal penalties were established for conduct contrary to Islamic principles, such as smoking, and religious courts were created to punish offenders.

In the following years, laws concerning women were tightened. For example, in 1983, the penal code established severe punishments for women who appeared in public without the veil, including flogging and similar penalties, and specialized police units were created to monitor compliance with these rules.

Protests against authoritarianism began in the 1980s, but it was after the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022 that the country faced one of its largest waves of uprisings. Under the slogan "Woman, Life, and Liberty," thousands of Iranian women have taken to the streets as a form of resistance against the ayatollahs' regime. Iran's struggle is one of the most significant women's movements in the world, yet, ironically, feminist movements have aligned themselves with the theocracy. In fact, in 2022, Romina Pérez, then Bolivia's ambassador to Iran and a feminist activist, stated the following:

Our government condemns the recent unrest in Iran, perpetrated by British and American Zionists, and we are confident that all problems will be resolved with the solidarity, knowledge, and understanding of Iran's beloved leader.

Although he later said the statements were manipulated, the close relations between the Movement for Socialism and the ayatollahs cast doubt on the retractions.

Amid escalating diplomatic tensions and internal protests, a joint Israeli-American military operation was launched against Iran in the early hours of February 28, 2026, dubbed Operation Lion's Roar, Operation Epic Fury. The operation included bombings and missile strikes against military installations and strategic targets in Tehran and other cities such as Isfahan, Qom, Karaj, and Kermanshah.

The attacks targeted military infrastructure, command centers, launch platforms, and areas associated with the Revolutionary Guard and other state forces. However, the most devastating blow was the death of Ali Khamenei, the mastermind behind the entire dictatorship and the crimes committed over more than four decades.

February 2026 is perhaps the most important moment for a generation of Iranians who wish to see their country free from Islamic invasion and subjugation.

«The opinions published herein are the sole responsibility of its author».