Passivity, Silence, and Subtle Change: An Interview with Two Iranians After the Twelve-Day War

Since June 12, 2025, Israeli and American joint strikes have left Iran’s nuclear and military facilities severely battered. The heavy damage to Iran’s nuclear and military capabilities has given rise to competing perceptions of the Islamic Republic’s real power. Since the June 24 ceasefire announced the end of Israel and Iran’s “Twelve Day War”, the prospect of regime change within Iran has been an important topic of discussion on the international stage.

At the onset of the war, both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the exiled son of Iran’s former Shah, Reza Pahlavi, urged the people of Iran to revolt against their government. This view is shared among many politicians and exiled Iranians who see Iran’s weakened military as an opportunity for an uprising. However, many activists disagree, noting a new wave of regime crackdowns on suspected spies and dissidents, and human rights groups see a worsening situation at hand.

Curious to find the truth amid these diverging narratives, I spoke with two Iranians—one living in Canada, the other in Iran—about their impressions of the regime in the immediate post-war era. The responses I heard were very different. 

I sat down with Ava, an Iranian actress living in Toronto, who translated the responses of her friend, Cyrus, living in Iran. Both names have been changed for their security. 

Editor’s Note: This interview took place on July 16, 2025. It has since been edited for length and clarity. 

Madeline Higgins
Activists say the regime has unleashed a new wave of repression on its own people following the war with Israel—is this true? If so, how have things within the country changed?

Cyrus
No, there hasn’t been any new widespread crackdown. Just a few individuals here and there have been arrested. The situation inside the country is relatively calm, with no major unrest—more like a state of passivity and silence.

Madeline Higgins
Do you feel that the war’s impact on Iran’s military has created a real opportunity for regime change? And would you say there is a popular demand for a new regime in Iran?

Cyrus
Demands for regime change have existed more or less for some time, but there hasn’t been any meaningful major movement, and I don’t see any signs of an impact shift starting either.

Madeline Higgins
There seems to be a divide in the Western world over whether the war with Israel was a catalyst for positive or negative change—do you feel that there has been a positive or negative impact on Iran’s future?

Cyrus
The war hasn’t had any positive or negative impact on Iran’s political future. I see its effect on Iran’s future as neutral.

Madeline Higgins
How have you felt about responses to the war in the West? Do you feel that the conflict with Israel has changed global perceptions of Iran’s regime?

Cyrus
We are simply not important enough in the eyes of the West for that. At most, we become a news headline from time to time, occasionally stirring up sympathy or pity from Westerners—but that’s about it.

Madeline Higgins
Do you have final thoughts about the war and current life in Iran you wish to share?

Cyrus
War itself can sometimes lead to structural changes in government. But ultimately, real change in a political system has to emerge from the growth and development of the society’s understanding of what it truly wants. Until society truly reflects on its vision of change, regime change through war or external pressure will result in regression—or at best, stagnation.

Ava paused and glanced back at her screen to reread the words of her friend. Although initially disinclined to speak on the subject, feeling that she was less informed than her Iranian counterpart, Ava began to speak about her country energetically. I raised my notebook once again. 

Ava
I see it so positively. Since the revolution, the regime would tell us that no one would dare to attack them. Right now, Khamenei has nothing to say. They are so weak.

Madeline Higgins
Would you say most Iranians here in Toronto see it that way? And those still living in the country, like your friend, see it otherwise?

Ava
There is a split among Iranians about the war. In Toronto, some protestors are waving Israeli flags while others wave the flag of the regime. Here in the West, people are turning to Pahlavi, thinking he is going to save the country because he is the son of the Shah. My friends and I all laugh. He can’t save the country, let alone get a job. In Iran, people aren’t happy with Israel. They are upset about the war, mainly because of what the regime will do to its own people. They shut down power for two days. No one had internet to see where Israel was going to strike. The regime benefits from our dying.

Madeline Higgins
It has been almost three years since the death of Mahsa Amini. You yourself were an active member of the Woman Life Liberty movement back in 2022, do you feel there has been any progress to the movement since?

Ava
At the time of Mahsa Amini’s death, everyone was posting, everyone was in the street. This year, there was nothing for her anniversary. They forget, unfortunately.

Madeline Higgins
Do you feel any sense of hope for the women in Iran?

Ava
Yes, I see some progress. When I was living in Iran, the morality police arrested me so many times. After five years, I get calls from my friends who aren’t wearing their hijabs near Tehran—at least when the police aren’t around. Before, women weren’t allowed on a stage, and now they can sing background vocals or play instruments. I see it as a cup half full.

Madeline Higgins
And do your friends who called you feel this way?

Ava
They had no feeling. They’re tired. We protested so much, so many people were arrested and killed, and nothing happened. Cyrus was always at the protests. Always in the street, telling me ‘we are going to save the country.’ He was so happy. Now, when we call during the war, he says ‘nothing is going to change, it’s all just a political game.’

Madeline Higgins
And how have you felt?

Ava
When I left Iran, I told myself I was leaving the country behind, that I would have a new life here. I want to forget it all, but I can’t. It’s your blood. There is a saying in Farsi, ‘the sky is blue everywhere.’ A friend of mine who was arrested for the Women Life Liberty movement told me a story about his former cellmate. When Israel struck, the entire front wall of the prison came down, and freedom was within a footstep away. But he could hear the sounds of voices beneath the rubble, begging for help, so he stayed. I heard this story and I was so angry! Why would he be so stupid? He could have been free. But then, after a while, I realized I would do the same. If I heard my people’s cries, what else could I do?

With this, Ava gave a melancholic smile. Returning to Cyrus’s words, she agreed that the prospect of revolution is stagnant because the people of Iran have no promise of what would come next in the event of regime change. Many fear a worse evil could emerge.

A people’s uprising in Iran is not as simple as many outsiders may think. There lies an entrenched psychological grip the Islamic Republic holds over its own people, despite an apparently weakened military force. 

Regardless of differences in the Iranian people’s views on the country’s prospects for change, the facts on the ground in Iran remain the same. By the interview’s end, Ava said that the only hope of change must come from the Iranian people. It is a war they fight every day with the regime, and a war they have to win themselves. 

Edited by Iona Riga

Featured Image: Photo of Tehran by Hosein Charbaghi is licensed under the Unsplash License.