Violence vs. Self-Défense:
Drawing the Moral Line
WHAT IS STATE VIOLENCE?
We, the people of Iran are now at a historical crossroad: CHOOSE LIFE OR DEATH?
Over 46 years ago, a cabal of extremist terrorist Mullahs in a secret pack with the leftists international managed to take over our beloved country by disguising their campaign as “Islamic Revolution” promising to bring about fair distribution of wealth, under the banner of Independence and Freedom and as soon as they managed to take control of the state apparatus they forgot all about their promises and used brute violence to dominate, silence any opposition, terrorize general population, exploit our national wealth, enrich themselves and secret partners in deep states of the world. They became the classic occupation force disguised as a legitimate government with full diplomatic credentials. And routinely initiate power against the powerless people of Iran. So violence is what tyrannical rulers, mafia states and occupation forces exercize to subdue the population under occupation. To terrorise the population, they shoot unarmed citizens in public, they arrest and torture protesters, they rape detainees, starve populations, and cut off their communication tools such as telephones and internet so the world cannot hear or see the blood on the streets. That in short is the description of violence committed by state against the population under its control.
What is Self-defence?
Self-defence is practiced when a people are left with no safe alternative — when peaceful protest is met with bullets, when dialogue is answered with mass arrests, when silence, appeasement, and surrender become a death sentence.
Self-defence is NOT about revenge.
Self-defence is NOT about hatred.
Self-defence is NOT about conquest.
Self-defence is about survival.
The Moral Test Is Simple
The difference between violence and self-defence lies in three questions:
1. Who initiated the violence in Iranian streets?
It was not the people who opened fire. It was the violent state.
2. Was there a peaceful path available?
When ballots are stolen, courts are weaponized, Free speech and free press is violently silenced, and the telephones and internet is cut, peaceful paths are deliberately destroyed.
3. What is the intent?
Violence seeks to rule over others by force, loot national wealth, enrich the tyrants and cyphon out the stolen wealth.
Self-defence seeks only to stop being killed.
When a violent regime massacres thousands in cold blood, resisting that massacre is not violence — it is self-defence, the most sacred law of nature which is to stay alive and refuse to be exterminated.
History, Law, and Ethics Agree
Every moral tradition, every major religion, and every system of law recognizes the right of self-defence:
Individuals have the right to defend their lives.
Communities have the right to protect themselves from annihilation.
Nations have the right to resist tyranny when all peaceful remedies are crushed.
To deny this right is to ask submission to death — and that is neither moral nor humane.
A Final Truth the World Must Face
I do not glorify violence.
I despise bloodshed.
I mourn every life lost — including those lost because a regime chose violence over dialogue.
But when the choice imposed on a people is submission or slaughter, refusing to submit is NOT violence.
It is self-defence.
It is human dignity asserting itself.
It is the last line between life and erasure.
And history is very clear about one thing:
Those who confuse self-defence with violence always end up standing on the wrong side of justice.
Freydoon Khoie
Chairman,
Liberal Democratic Party of Iran
January 23, 2026