Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi has criticised Iran's regime for its use of "state terrorism" and warned that it will eventually fall.
Speaking to "On the Record", Ms Ebadi expressed optimism that democracy will prevail in Iran but emphasised that the regime's ideology is the root cause of regional instability.
"The Iranian regime and its structure has been weakened," she said.
"Many who were fighting in the field for the regime have been killed, but the Islamic Republic has been using its proxies in the region … and it has asked them to come and join the fight."
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that Israeli and American strikes have taken out Iran's top leadership.
"Yes, they killed the supreme leader and they killed the highest-ranking IRGC commanders, but the ones who remain in power are following the same wrong foreign policy," she said.
Ms Ebadi condemned the regime's actions as "economic and state terrorism", giving the example of attacks on regional countries.
"These states have nothing to do with the war in Iran," she said.
The latest statistics from inside the country reveal a grim picture: more than 1,500 Iranian civilians have been killed and 6,000 people detained in protests across the country since December 2025.
That violence, however, does not reflect the Iranian people, Ms Ebadi claims.
"They are not a warmongering people. They are pacifists," says Ms Ebadi. "And they want to have good neighbourly relations. Change will only take place when the people take power, when democracy is established in the country."
As for the future, Ms Ebadi sees Reza Pahlavi, son of Iran's former shah, as one of the alternatives, but stresses that the Iranian people must decide their own fate through a referendum.
"I'd like to wait and make my decisions when we have a referendum," she said. "Right now, I'm focusing on the overthrow of the regime."
