However, this strategy has already backfired. Instead of provoking division, namely between opponents of the Iranian government and its backers, the attacks have galvanized national unity across ideological lines. Millions have taken to the streets in cities across Iran including Tehran, Mashhad and Isfahan—not only in protest of foreign aggression, but in defense of Iran’s sovereignty. Even longstanding critics of Iran’s government have closed ranks, recognizing that the existential threat posed by US-Israeli aggression transcends domestic political grievances. Iranians around the country are now even assisting security forces to counter and dismantle espionage networks working with Mossad inside Iran. This convergence of sentiment, seen in everything from volunteer enlistments to mass mobilization efforts, underscores a recurring lesson of imperialist miscalculation: external pressures often consolidate, rather than fracture, national identity.
Iranian researcher and activist Hossein Sheykhian took to Twitter, arguing that the United States has violated “[all] kinds of international law you can imagine” by attacking Iran’s nuclear sites. “Our opposition in Iran are saying ‘Death to America and Death to Israel’…because this colonialism and this imperialism that they have in their government…is a fact…any kind of human rights bullshit they’ve been saying to you all is a lie, and you can now understand it and see it [with] your eyes.”
Speaking with Splinter before recent internet blackouts in Iran, Zainab Heydari, a recent graduate from Tehran’s University of Medical Sciences, emphasized what she describes as “the failing plot to divide the people of Iran.” She continued, saying “national unity is at the highest level many of our generation has ever seen because the people of Iran know that our blood is one, and our future is one. Operation True Promise is Iran’s response to attacks on our independence and our people. We refuse to let America or Israel dictate our future. I am confident that Iranians will not fall for these attempts to turn us against one another because this only serves Israel’s interests and the interests of the United States.”
Heydari, a supporter of Seyed Ali Khamenei, explains that regardless of whether one is a supporter of the government or part of the local opposition, the reality on the ground dictates that unity is not only a moral imperative, but a strategic necessity. “I know opponents of the government personally,” Heydari says. “Even they are now in the streets with us, many even saying that this war has caused them to align with the government because they know that the killing of our people isn’t something that is felt by the government only, but by every Iranian. Israel expected us to turn against each other because of political differences, but we are more united than before.” The Iranian people’s steadfast rejection of the US-Israeli war shows that the struggle against imperialism must first build a cohesive political consciousness that is capable of withstanding both military and psychological warfare.
The US-Israeli assault on Iran—be it through sanctions, sabotage, or aerial bombardment—was designed to fracture the country from within, to erode its social cohesion and ignite internal dissent, and yet as history has repeatedly shown, such strategies often achieve the opposite of the intended goal. Far from splintering the nation, the violent attack on Iran’s sovereignty has solidified a collective will to resist. In the face of foreign aggression, Iranians—across political, class, and generational divides—have closed ranks, emphasizing an enduring truth: the disruption of a people’s societal fabric does not unravel it; it reforges it. Air strikes, economic warfare, and relentless attempts to isolate Iran have instead awakened a deeper national consciousness that is not merely reactive, but assertively united and defiant.
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