“Day of infamy” and why the regime can’t kill its way out | Eye for Iran | EP 89
Author: Iran International English
February 6, 2026
Duration: 1:34:43
“You cannot kill your way out of this.”
That is how Iranian-American historian Abbas Milani describes the Islamic Republic’s response to Iran’s latest uprising, a crackdown he calls unprecedented in modern Iranian history.
In this episode of Eye for Iran, Milani explains why mass killing and mass arrests have exposed the regime’s political death rather than restoring control. Drawing on new research documenting thousands of protests across Iran, he argues that fear no longer works, resistance is cumulative and the Islamic Republic cannot survive by violence alone.
He also examines the chain of command behind the crackdown, the role of the IRGC and why negotiations with Tehran after mass killings risk throwing a lifeline to a sinking regime.
The conversation then turns to the international response with Major Andrew Fox and Jake Wallis Simons, co-hosts of The Brink podcast. Fox, a conflict researcher and senior associate fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, served 16 years in the British Army from 2005 to 2021. Together, they assess whether diplomacy is buying time for Tehran, break down US options and warn that attempts to tame the regime risk normalizing mass killing.
The episode concludes with frontline testimony from physicians documenting the human cost of the crackdown. Dr. Homa Fathi and Dr. Panteha Rezaeian of the AIDA Health Alliance describe hospital raids, doctors arrested for treating protesters and a growing epidemic of untreated wounds and preventable deaths as fear keeps the injured away from care.
Contents for this video:
00:00 Cold open: “You can’t kill your way out of this”
00:00 Iran’s darkest chapter and the information war
00:02 Doctors targeted for treating protesters
00:02 Abbas Milani: how unprecedented is this crackdown
00:06 Why the regime can’t murder its way to survival
00:08 Friday talks: what is even left to negotiate
00:13 A crackdown planned for decades
00:16 Chain of command: how mass repression is executed
00:19 Tehran’s soft power and influence networks
00:23 Why negotiations fail and what comes next
00:29 Andrew Fox and Jake Wallace-Simons join
00:33 Trump’s options: deal, strikes, or “taming” the regime
00:40 Can a “Maduro model” work in Iran
00:51 Why Trump told protesters “help is coming”
01:00 The information war in Western streets
01:08 Doctors and AIDA Health Alliance: arrests, raids, snipers
01:17 Virtual clinic and the epidemic of infected wounds
01:29 Patients taken mid-treatment and what the world must do
01:34 Closing
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