Iran International
After unprecedented mass killings of protestors whose full scope lies concealed behind Iran's internet iron curtain, the Washington-based pro-Israel think tank JINSA urges Donald Trump to seize the moment to destroy the mutual foe of Israel and the United States.
The non-profit Jewish Institute for National Security of America, founded in 1976, advocates for a strong US military relationship with Israel and researches conflict in the Middle East.
JINSA president and CEO Michael Makovsky and the group’s vice president for policy Blaise Misztal told Iran International’s English-language podcast Eye for Iran that decades of containment, deterrence and nuclear diplomacy have failed because the Islamic Republic itself should be destroyed.
“It should be US policy to seek the collapse of this regime,” Makovsky said.
They said hesitation now — after mass killings of protesters across Iran — risks emboldening Tehran at the theocracy's weakest moment.
“We don’t say regime change,” Makovsky said. “The regime will fall … only when the Iranian people bring it down. But it should be US policy … to seek the collapse of this regime.”
The last months, Misztal said, have created a rare strategic opening: Iran’s nuclear clock has been set back, its regional proxies weakened and Iranians themselves have returned to the streets demanding freedom.
“This is a moment like no other,” he said. “I don’t know when the stars will align like this again… why not make it now? When is a better time than now?”
The duo urged the Trump administration to abandon negotiations, intensify pressure on the Revolutionary Guards and build the infrastructure needed to help Iranians defeat the Islamic Republic.
Misztal said previous administrations focused on Iran’s nuclear program, terrorism sponsorship and ballistic missile development as separate threats without tying them back to what he called the ideological nature of the theocracy.
“Yes, it’s a problem that Iran is the world’s greatest state sponsor of terrorism. Yes, it is a problem that it’s pursuing nuclear weapons,” he said. “But all of that stems from it being the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Trump’s Promises and a Moment of Decision
Their warnings come as President Donald Trump faces rising scrutiny over his own rhetoric. Earlier this month, Trump vowed support for protesters and issued a direct warning to Tehran.
“I tell the Iranian leaders: You better not start shooting, because we’ll start shooting, too,” he said.
But Makovsky warned that after mass killings and widespread arrests, the absence of immediate consequences risks damaging US credibility.
“The Iranians have called his bluff for now,” he said. “If he doesn’t do it, it will go down as a tragic mistake.”
In recent days, Trump has said a US "armada" is heading toward the Middle East, with the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and several guided-missile destroyers expected to arrive in the region soon as Washington signals it is positioning military assets amid escalating uncertainty.
The growing tensions are now rippling far beyond Iran itself.
Major European airlines have begun suspending flights across parts of the Middle East, citing security concerns. Air France has canceled flights to Tel Aviv and Dubai, British Airways has halted evening service to Dubai and KLM has suspended routes to Israel, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Industry officials say cancellations are expected to increase gradually as carriers reassess airspace restrictions and passenger safety in a rapidly deteriorating regional environment.
A Cold War–Style Pressure Campaign
Misztal framed the strategy as a modern version of what the United States pursued against Soviet communism: strengthening civil resistance while weakening the ruling system from within.
“The strategy of regime collapse has been precisely what the United States pursued throughout the Cold War,” he said.
He argued that Washington should encourage defections, isolate elites in authority, cut off funding streams and expand opposition communications.
“One of the things we recommended is a quarantine of Iran’s oil exports,” Misztal said, “so that it doesn’t keep getting the money to rebuild its forces to pay the Basij or the IRGC.”
Both analysts warned that Iran’s leadership is entering what they described as its most dangerous phase, amid mass violence at home and the potential for war abraod.
“A showdown of some kind” is coming, Misztal said, and “the next showdown will be the last one."
They described symptoms that they said went beyond those caused by conventional tear gas, including severe breathing difficulties, sudden weakness and loss of movement.
“What was fired was not tear gas,” one protester said.
"People collapsed," another eyewitness said.
Iranian authorities crushed unrest earlier this month in the deadliest crackdown on protestors in the Islamic Republic's nearly 50-year history.
According to accounts, the gases caused intense burning of the eyes, skin and lungs, along with acute respiratory distress, repeated coughing, dizziness, loss of balance and, in some cases, vomiting or coughing up blood.
Witnesses said the severity and persistence of the symptoms differed from their past experiences with tear gas, although they said they could not identify the substances used.
Gas fired into crowds and escape routes
Witnesses said gas canisters were fired into crowds and along escape routes, including narrow streets and alleys.
According to the accounts, in some cases gunfire began at the same time, or immediately after, protesters lost the ability to walk or run and fell to the ground.
Several witnesses said that moments of immobilization became points at which shooting intensified, particularly when protesters collapsed in alleys or while trying to flee.
Reports came from multiple cities, including Tehran, Isfahan and Sabzevar.
Sabzevar footage
Videos received from Sabzevar, a city in Razavi Khorasan province in northeastern Iran, and reviewed by Iran International showed security personnel wearing special protective clothing and masks designed for hazardous chemical materials, positioned on military-style vehicles in city streets.
Warning symbols associated with hazardous substances were visible on vehicles in the footage. Sounds consistent with gunfire could be heard in separate videos.
Iranian forces are seen wearing chemical-hazard protective gear on military-style vehicles in the streets of Sabzevar, northeast Iran.
A yellow triangular hazardous-materials warning sign is visible in the footage, while gunfire can be heard in a separate video.
Isfahan accounts
In central province of Isfahan, witnesses said tear gas with chemical characteristics was fired directly into crowds of protesters, including teenagers, young people and older individuals.
They said attempts to reduce the effects of the gas using common methods such as wet cloths quickly proved ineffective.
Witnesses described scenes in which people fleeing into alleys developed severe breathing difficulties and collapsed after running short distances. They said shooting began while protesters were in that condition, with scenes they described as “like war movies.”
Other witnesses described the smell of the gases as a mixture of pepper, swimming-pool chlorine, bleach and vinegar, and said the sky filled with smoke in red, yellow and white colors.
Several women and a 17-year-old girl described seeing an unknown device that, they said, “without the sound of gunfire, fired something like flames in red and yellow.”
“Seconds later, the street was full of smoke and vapor,” they said, adding that the smell resembled ammonia, drain cleaner and, in some areas, mustard.
One woman said two plainclothes agents put on protective masks before throwing gas canisters toward nearby crowds. She said young people closest to the impact “quickly developed coughing, intense burning and inability to move” and shouted: “I’m burned.”
Tehran accounts
In Tehran, witnesses from several neighborhoods said gas was fired repeatedly, producing thick smoke and severe irritation.
Protesters said the gases caused intense burning of the eyes and lungs and numbness in the lips, with smoke described as green, yellow and black.
Witnesses said protesters who felt suffocation sought refuge inside nearby homes, but said security agents were positioned near some of those locations.
In addition to tear gas, witnesses spoke of “unknown gases with more severe effects,” saying those exposed experienced sudden weakness, inability to walk and loss of breath.
Fear of hospitals
In a number of accounts, witnesses said fear of the presence of security agents at hospitals and the risk of arrest led many wounded protesters to avoid medical centers.
They said some treatment was instead carried out at private homes with the help of volunteer doctors.
Some witnesses said people they knew continued to suffer severe coughing, nausea and skin blistering days after exposure.
Medical assessment
Alan Fotouhi, a physician and professor of clinical pharmacology based in Sweden, told Iran International that the symptoms described by witnesses did not match those typically associated with standard tear gas.
He said the pattern of symptoms, severity of harm and persistence of effects differed from what is normally observed with conventional tear gas exposure.
Fotouhi said the reported effects could result from a combination of high-dose tear gas and other highly irritating chemical substances, but said identifying the exact materials would require laboratory analysis.
Iranian authorities have not commented on the witness accounts.
Iran is a signatory to the Chemical Weapons Convention, which restricts the use of chemical agents against civilians.
Human rights groups have condemned the use of force against protesters in Iran, including the use of tear gas and live ammunition.