Europe has watched Iran’s domestic crisis unfold for years, but the past week has revealed a level of social despair that demands immediate international attention. In three separate provinces, three young Iranians set themselves on fire in protest against economic hardship and state repression—acts that echo the darkest chapters of modern history.
In Khuzestan, 20-year-old student Ahmad Baladi self-immolated after municipal authorities destroyed his father’s street stall, the family’s only source of income. In Sanandaj, Shaho Safari, a 34-year-old firefighter and father of two, set himself on fire following four months of unpaid wages.
And in Lorestan, Kourosh Kheiri, a transportation worker with the Department of Education, self-immolated after losing his job; he died days later from severe burns.
Three self-immolations within a single week are not isolated tragedies. They are a stark sign of a society reaching a breaking point—and a reminder that Iran’s crisis is not only political but profoundly human.
A Country in a Governance Freefall
Iran is now facing an unprecedented accumulation of crises: soaring inflation, mass unemployment, accelerating hunger, collapsing infrastructure and shrinking state revenues. Former deputy foreign minister Mohsen Aminzadeh describes the situation as a “governance vacuum.” A senior European diplomat notes that
“the level of disorientation inside Iran today is deeper than at any point in the last 40 years.”
The result is a state trapped in strategic paralysis. Lacking any coherent policy response, the regime relies increasingly on repression turning prisons into execution sites and using violence as its primary tool of governance.
Escalation Abroad, Collapse at Home
Despite this domestic collapse, Tehran is accelerating its missile and nuclear programs.
According to a New York Times report citing the International Crisis Group, Iranian missile factories now operate around the clock. Satellite images published by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) indicate renewed underground construction at Natanz, suggesting a deepening of nuclear activities.
At the same time, credible sources report that Iran transferred $1 billion to Hezbollah over the past year—even as millions of Iranians face water shortages, electricity blackouts and deteriorating public services.
Repression has also surged: 285 executions were carried out in October 2025 alone, one of the highest monthly totals in recent decades. Over the first ten months of this year, 1,471 people, including 45 women, were executed.
A Fractured Regime—and a Narrowing Window
As crises multiply, Iran’s political structure has split into two blocs:
• A negotiation camp, around former president Hassan Rouhani and former foreign minister Javad Zarif, recommending making concessions on the nuclear and missile programs to avoid collapse.
• A hardline core, the ideological base loyal to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
This faction rejects negotiations, viewing any retreat as a
“premature death sentence for the regime.”
They insist on continuing nuclear enrichment, missile expansion, and regional escalation.
Why Europe Cannot Stand Aside
For Europe, Iran’s destabilization is not a distant problem. It risks:
- intensifying refugee flows,
- destabilizing the Middle East,
- strengthening radical non-state actors,
- threatening maritime security,
- and undermining non-proliferation efforts.
With UN Security Council resolutions reactivated and Iran once again designated a threat under Chapter VII, Europe has both a moral and strategic responsibility to support the Iranian people’s legitimate right to resist state violence.
Silence would not only abandon a population in crisis; it would endanger Europe’s own security landscape.
Now is the moment for Europe to act—before Iran’s internal implosion becomes a regional catastrophe.
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