{"id":334610,"date":"2025-07-23T09:25:32","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T08:25:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=334610"},"modified":"2025-07-23T09:49:19","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T08:49:19","slug":"former-us-homeland-security-chief-ridge-iran-protests-are-the-only-viable-path-to-regime-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/iran-resistance\/former-us-homeland-security-chief-ridge-iran-protests-are-the-only-viable-path-to-regime-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Former U.S. Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge: Iran Protests Are the Only Viable Path to Regime Change"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_53482\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-53482\" style=\"width: 1000px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-53482 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Former_US_Homeland_Security_Secretary_and_Governor_Tom_Ridge-e1753258638495.jpg\" alt=\"Former_US_Homeland_Security_Secretary_and_Governor_Tom_Ridge\" width=\"1000\" height=\"565\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Former_US_Homeland_Security_Secretary_and_Governor_Tom_Ridge-e1753258638495.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Former_US_Homeland_Security_Secretary_and_Governor_Tom_Ridge-e1753258638495-300x170.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Former_US_Homeland_Security_Secretary_and_Governor_Tom_Ridge-e1753258638495-768x434.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Former_US_Homeland_Security_Secretary_and_Governor_Tom_Ridge-e1753258638495-696x393.jpg 696w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Former_US_Homeland_Security_Secretary_and_Governor_Tom_Ridge-e1753258638495-743x420.jpg 743w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Former_US_Homeland_Security_Secretary_and_Governor_Tom_Ridge-e1753258638495-150x85.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-53482\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former US Homeland Security Secretary and Governor Tom Ridge addressing the 2019 Free Iran Rally<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"134\" data-end=\"584\">In a sharply worded column published by <em data-start=\"174\" data-end=\"184\">Newsweek<\/em> on July 21, 2025, Tom Ridge\u2014former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security and ex-governor of Pennsylvania\u2014argues that the greatest threat to Iran\u2019s clerical dictatorship comes not from foreign powers, but from its own people. Secretary Ridge stresses that sustained public resistance, exemplified by a broad array of protests and acts of civil disobedience, represents the only credible force for change in Iran.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"586\" data-end=\"965\">The article condemns the regime\u2019s brutal crackdowns, including over 975 executions last year, and highlights the mass arrests and killings since the 2022 uprising. Secretary Ridge draws particular attention to recent rhetoric from state-run <a href=\"https:\/\/farsnews.ir\/Sadra1404\/1751898735918094535\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fars News Agency<\/a>, which openly called for a repeat of the 1988 massacre of political prisoners\u2014an event the UN has labeled a crime against humanity.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"967\" data-end=\"1303\">He emphasizes the resilience of Iranian teachers, retirees, truck drivers, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/iranian-resistance\/mek-resistance-units-and-irans-uprising\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MEK-affiliated Resistance Units<\/a> who continue to challenge the regime despite growing repression. Dismissing the West\u2019s long-standing policy of appeasement, Ridge calls for a principled shift: recognition of the Iranian people\u2019s right to resist dictatorship.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"1305\" data-end=\"1447\">Ridge revives the \u201cThird Option\u201d first proposed by Maryam Rajavi: regime change from within, led by the people and their organized resistance.<\/p>\n<hr data-start=\"1449\" data-end=\"1452\" \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"1454\" data-end=\"1545\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\"><strong><em data-start=\"1454\" data-end=\"1545\" data-is-last-node=\"\">Originally <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/iranian-people-remain-best-hope-regime-change-opinion-2099772\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">published by Newsweek<\/a> on July 21, 2025. The full article is republished below.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Must-read commentary by Governor Tom Ridge, the 1st Homeland Security Sec.:<br \/>The Iranian people remain the best hope for regime change<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/sCGZkDLBPS\">https:\/\/t.co\/sCGZkDLBPS<\/a><br \/>&quot;In 2004, Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi told the European Parliament that the solution for Iran lies neither in\u2026<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NCRI-U.S. Rep Office (@NCRIUS) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NCRIUS\/status\/1947383230828843104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 21, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">The Iranian People Remain Best Hope for Regime Change<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><em>By\u00a0Tom Ridge<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Forty-six years after Iran&#8217;s 1979 revolution, the Iranian regime&#8217;s true Achilles&#8217; heel remains not foreign pressure or external war, but the growing power of its own people and their organized resistance. The mullahs&#8217; rulers\u2014unelected and unaccountable\u2014face a citizenry that is increasingly emboldened and defiant. With every new wave of protest, every strike, and every act of civil disobedience, the regime&#8217;s response is not reform, but repression.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In recent years, the world has witnessed a dramatic upsurge in state violence. The regime executed 975 people last year\u2014making Iran the world&#8217;s top per capita executioner. Many of these victims are political prisoners, dissidents, or members of marginalized communities. In 2022, a new nationwide uprising erupted in response to the murder of Mahsa Amini. Since then, tens of thousands have been arrested and tortured, and hundreds have been murdered, executed, or disappeared.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Truck drivers, teachers, retirees, farmers, and students have all taken to the streets. The regime answers not with dialogue, but with bullets, gallows, and censorship. Its so-called &#8220;public executions&#8221; are a desperate attempt to project strength and instill fear. But, as history shows, such spectacles only reveal how tenuous the regime&#8217;s hold on power truly is.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Perhaps nothing exposes the regime&#8217;s panic more than its own chilling rhetoric. On July 7, the state-run\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/irannewsupdate.com\/news\/human-rights\/regime-signals-return-to-1988-style-executions-amid-post-war-repression-in-iran\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fars News Agency<\/a>\u00a0went so far as to openly call for a &#8220;repeat&#8221; of the 1988 mass executions of political prisoners\u2014most of them members of the principal Iranian opposition group, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (<a href=\"https:\/\/english.mojahedin.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MEK<\/a>). It described that atrocity as one of the Islamic Republic&#8217;s most &#8220;brilliant records in the fight against terrorism&#8221; and declared, &#8220;today is the time to repeat this successful historical experience.&#8221; No fewer than\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/iran1988.org\/1988-massacre\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">30,000<\/a>\u00a0political prisoners were executed and buried in unmarked mass graves, in what the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/sites\/default\/files\/documents\/countries\/iran\/20240717-SR-Iran-Findings.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">United Nations<\/a>\u00a0has condemned as a crime against humanity and a genocide. Such a brazen call for mass murder is not a show of strength, but a confession of fear. The regime&#8217;s leaders, haunted by the growing influence of the MEK-affiliated Resistance Units&#8217; reach inside Iran, now see terror and bloodshed as their only means of holding back the tide of change. Their paranoia is no longer hidden; it is broadcast from the headlines of state media.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Ex-US Homeland Security Secretary &amp; Governor Tom Ridge: &quot;120,000 men and women of the MEK have died embracing a cause bigger than themselves. You are embracing a cause bigger than yourself, and you will <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/FreeIran?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#FreeIran<\/a>.&quot;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/IStandWithMaryamRajavi?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#IStandWithMaryamRajavi<\/a>  <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/WeSupportMEK?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#WeSupportMEK<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/c4KTvJXHKO\">pic.twitter.com\/c4KTvJXHKO<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/iran_policy\/status\/1150096239796588544?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 13, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Despite this brutality, Iran&#8217;s spirit of resistance is unbroken. Truck drivers\u2014threatened with revoked licenses, loss of livelihood, and prosecution\u2014stand undeterred, demanding the release of arrested colleagues. Teachers and retirees stage coordinated strikes. Even in the face of mass arrests and death sentences,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/resistanceunits.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Resistance Units<\/a>\u00a0continue to operate in every corner of the country. The regime&#8217;s feverish efforts to stamp out dissent are matched only by the courage and persistence of ordinary Iranians.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Decades of appeasement of the Iranian regime have unequivocally failed. The hope that the regime would moderate itself is a dangerous illusion\u2014a leopard never changes its spots. Continued outreach only extends the life of a theocracy fundamentally opposed to democratic values.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The United States, and the broader West, must not throw a lifeline to this regime at its weakest point. Instead, it should stand with the Iranian people and their organized resistance, recognize the right of Iranians to self-determination\u2014free from all forms of dictatorship, whether monarchical or theocratic\u2014and explicitly affirm their right to confront the Revolutionary Guards and other instruments of repression. This principled shift is both a moral necessity and a strategic imperative for stability and peace in Iran and the region.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Sec. Tom Ridge: Dangerous deal with <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Iran?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Iran<\/a>\u2019s mullahs<a href=\"http:\/\/t.co\/g24jjIgsBF\">http:\/\/t.co\/g24jjIgsBF<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NewYorkRally?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#NewYorkRally<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/No2Rouhani?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#No2Rouhani<\/a>  <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/humanrights?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#humanrights<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/t.co\/0JNPdiJ636\">pic.twitter.com\/0JNPdiJ636<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/iran_policy\/status\/648965263661121536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 29, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In fact, this &#8220;Third Option&#8221; is not a new concept. In 2004, Iranian opposition leader\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/maryam-rajavi.com\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Maryam Rajavi<\/a>\u00a0told the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.maryam-rajavi.com\/en\/conference-european-parliament-strasbourg-the-outcome-of-appeasing-the-regime\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">European Parliament<\/a>\u00a0that the solution for Iran lies neither in appeasement nor in war, but in regime change by the people of Iran and their organized resistance. &#8220;The policy of appeasement encourages the clerical regime to persist in its policies and, ultimately, imposes war upon Western nations,&#8221; she warned. &#8220;Let us not allow the Munich experience to be repeated\u2014with clerics armed with nuclear bombs.&#8221; This warning resonates with even greater urgency today: years of appeasement have emboldened the regime, ultimately leading to the very war the world hoped to avoid.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Third Option\u2014change by the Iranian people and the organized resistance\u2014is not only possible, but essential and inevitable. The rising tide of protests, the resilience of the Resistance Units, and the unity around a democratic platform have given Iranians real hope. Supporting this alternative is not just a moral imperative\u2014it is the only practical path to peace, stability, and democratic governance in Iran and the wider region.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><em>Tom Ridge was the nation&#8217;s first Homeland Security Secretary. He was the governor of Pennsylvania from 1995 to 2001<\/em><\/strong><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a sharply worded column published by Newsweek on July 21, 2025, Tom Ridge&mdash;former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security and ex-governor of Pennsylvania&mdash;argues that the greatest threat to Iran&rsquo;s clerical [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":53482,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[222],"class_list":{"0":"post-334610","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-iran-resistance","8":"tag-iranian-resistance"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Former U.S. Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge: Iran Protests Are the Only Viable Path to 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