No Deal with the Islamic Republic

Various reputable news sources have reported that a potential agreement between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran has been “largely negotiated.” While the certainty and durability of such a deal remain contested, the Lion and Sun Student Association unequivocally opposes any agreement with the Islamic Republic.

The Islamic Republic does not represent the Iranian people. Domestically, the regime has committed severe human rights violations, including violent crackdowns on protests, mass executions, and the repression of women, ethnic and religious minorities, journalists, and human rights defenders. Its intelligence and security apparatuses have also engaged in transnational repression through assassinations, kidnapping plots, intimidation, and harassment targeting dissidents and political opponents abroad.

On January 8 and 9, millions of Iranians protested to end the regime, calling for the return of Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi. Over 43,000 protesters were massacred. Injured protesters were hunted down in hospitals, and shot dead in cold blood. Healthcare professionals were killed, raped, imprisoned, and many are still at risk of capital punishment. Families were forced to search through body bags and pay for the bullets used to kill their loved ones.

The humanitarian crisis that has unfolded over the last 47 years under the Islamic Republic became impossible to ignore during these events. Under international laws and norms, including the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine, foreign humanitarian intervention in such circumstances has been argued as permissible. Leading political theorists such as Michael Walzer have identified humanitarian crises as a limited exception to strict non-interventionist principles. Accordingly, many policymakers, analysts, and Iranians (inside Iran and in the diaspora) viewed the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) military infrastructure as necessary to weaken the Islamic Republic and facilitate regime change.

Beyond its human rights abuses, the Islamic Republic remains a significant threat to regional and global security. The regime is widely recognized as a leading state sponsor of terrorism, providing funding, weapons, and training to designated terrorist groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and aligned militias in Iraq and Syria. The regime has repeatedly called for the destruction of the U.S. and Israel while positioning itself at the forefront of a broader anti-Western movement. In addition, it retains the resources, technical capacity, and infrastructure to pursue nuclear weapons development.

Attempts at diplomacy have repeatedly failed to produce lasting change. Any deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran risks complicity in the oppression of the Iranian people, contributing to instability in the Middle East, and undermining global security. We call on governments, organizations, activists, and public platforms to reject futile diplomacy with the Islamic Republic and to stand with the Iranian people rather than the regime that oppresses them.