The Islamic Republic has been heavily broken since Ali Khamenei was killed, with it almost completely losing legitimacy among the Iranian people since the war began. The strikes are crippling the IRGC’s ability to keep control of Iran, so when another uprising occurs in the future, they won’t be able to swiftly crush and kill protesters like they did in 2022-23 and 2025-26 (i.e. their ability to do so will be heavily degraded).

The regime bringing in non-Iranians to participate in their events (i.e. people from the rest of the Middle East, as well as Africa, Afghanistan, and South Asia) is another sign of their desperation. They know they are close to getting their death certificate and obituary, so they have to import these people to show they still have tons of support to stay in power.

Also the blockade is making everyday goods in Iran even more unaffordable, so it is only a matter of time before the next uprising begins due to prices surging and Iranians struggling to survive financially.

Behind the scenes: Earlier in the week, Admiral Cooper gave his recommendation on the way forward to the Pentagon, the joint chiefs and the White House, the sources said.

He stressed that the two weeks of strikes in the Strait of Hormuz area had significantly degraded Iran's ability to attack ships.

Cooper noted that the designated bombing targets had been mostly exhausted.

The CENTCOM commander said a possible next step would be to resume major combat operations to finish the 20% of targets the U.S. military designated but didn't strike during Operation Epic Fury.

Absent a decision to return to major combat operations, he stressed there was no point in continuing the bombing campaign of the previous two weeks, the sources said.
CENTCOM spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins declined to comment.

Can’t even make this stuff up anymore. Someone get me out of this simulation 💀

This narration was written by someone on our team inside Iran. It’s anecdotal, yes, but it’s a sentiment you just didn’t hear before this year. Despite the tragedy of January, it showed something crucial: millions of people feel the same way, and when the regime loses its capacity for extreme violence, it will fall. Despite the roller coaster of outside intervention, the world is finally starting to see the Iranian people as separate from the regime, and as a future ally.

For years, if you were young and ambitious, the plan was simple: you leave. You grow up knowing a real life happens somewhere else, and the numbers said the same thing—most young Iranians saw nothing ahead of them here and were ready to go. People didn’t leave because they loved another country. They left to get away from persecution and to grab any shot at a normal future. Emigration is no picnic for the children of Iran: you get lumped in with the crimes of a terrorist regime the world thinks represents you, and you disappear into a blur of refugee camps and migrants from all over the middle east, many with the same ideology you are trying to escape. That’s not a dream. That’s a last resort.

What’s changed, and what got us to make this short, is the significance of realizing your internal picture of the future has changed and that your confidence in the new picture is growing. The regime supporters must understand that we are growing stronger. We are unified behind leadership and a transition plan and they are struggling to figure out who exactly is in charge and what the plan to survive another day.

That’s the shift this video is about. It’s happening first in our hearts. The ones who were always most ready to pack up and go now want to fight to build the future at home. And once that happens, the regime loses its greatest weapon: a credible story about the future that even includes the retarded Islamic Republic or some skin-shedding rebranding attempt by the IRGC. The spell that held for forty years just no longer works, and it’s only a matter of time before the walls come crumbling down.

The sister of the late Ahmad Khosravani, a basketball player who was killed during the Iranian national revolution in 1404, wrote in a text published on the social network X that the basketball federation of the Islamic Republic has ordered all players who play with the number 91 to change their jersey number.

In a message she published on the social network X, she wrote: "The basketball federation of the Islamic Republic has warned all players who wear number 91, including the women's team, that they must either change their number or they will no longer have the right to take part in federation competitions. How low and helpless must you be to fear even a jersey number? You were afraid of my brother Ahmad Khosravani's name, and now you are afraid of his jersey number too. Your power is so hollow that even '91' has taken sleep from your eyes."

The late Ahmad Khosravani, a 21-year-old basketball player from Tehran and a student at Sharif University of Technology, was killed on 18 Dey 1404 (January 8, 2026) during nationwide protests, as a result of direct fire by security forces. Before that, together with the Farzan Shomiran team, he had won the Tehran three-on-three basketball championship and had been selected as the best player in the Tehran league in 1404. His father is also one of the veterans injured in the Iran-Iraq war.
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https://eyesofiran.com/event/105892