From Tehran to the World: Iran’s Murderous Regime Inflicts Sleeplessness and Fear

Why a U.S. Intervention in Iran Has Implications for the Whole Region

Doha January 15 (Thursday), 3 a.m.: I check my phone for the fourth time. Still no alert. I look out of the window from the right side of my bed. Nobody is in the street, no people, no cars. Just as usual. Just utter silence. 

Over the past weeks, silence has become a betrayer, a repeat offender. It is just a matter of time before it leaves me again. Insomnia and worries have replaced peace and tranquillity that used to be inseparable from my student dorm just a couple of weeks ago. My bed is no longer a place to rest, but a camp to endure. The air is hot and awake, suspiciously moving and swirling around. Breathe in, breathe out. I lose count. Just like the air, my worries are dancing through the room. In anticipation of violence my mind tries to escape the oppressing enclosure. Incessant is the urge to move. Why am I afraid? I am in Qatar!

Darkness is luxurious. For weeks my nights were lit. News, incessantly popping up on my smartphone screen, have victimized my eyelids like a sequence of shots. Has the U.S. attacked Iran yet? Still no alert. 

The hectic rhythm of my heart dictates the tact of time. Sweaty hands are typing in Google search. Desperately filtering for breaking news on U.S.-Iranian relations, I eventually assume that U.S. President Donald Trump might have figured out an alternative to a military intervention in the Persian theocracy. Thank God, that would relieve the tension in my heart - but only partially. 

In the back of my mind, voices are muttering persistently. “If the U.S. doesn't intervene, more innocent people will die”, an Iranian friend, living in the diaspora, tried to make me understand. I hear her. Simultaneously, I do not dare to talk to her about the significance of international law in that context and how an intervention is most likely to undermine it. Too abstract is the idea that human rights charters and international agreements can save Iranian civilians from their barbarian sovereigns. A whiff of wind is tickling the hair around my ears, causing an itchy feeling. Was there a yell? No, it is the heartbreaking testimonies that are floating through my memories. “Most of us are hoping that they [the U.S.] take the Ayatollah and his dogs out."

While diasporic voices are scattered around Europe and elsewhere, they have one thing in common: All of them call for an overthrow of the Ayatollah regime, the majority believing only a U.S. intervention could remedy the terminally ill economy. I am sceptical and perhaps I am egoistic, but here is the thing: 

As an international student in Qatar, which is a state that hosts the largest U.S. military air base in the Middle East, I am absolutely concerned about the U.S. making use of its Qatari air base Al-Udaid. I am concerned about the future of the Arabian Peninsula. And yes, I am concerned about my future as a student in Qatar. Deeply engraved are the memories of the unprecedented Israeli attack in a residential district of Doha, in early September of 2025. Thinking of the attack triggers the archives of my memory and it does not take me long to recall the sudden discontinuation of classes, the fear of returning home, and studying remotely. But this time, I am more concerned about the Iranians. 

After Venezuela, it is only likely that with Iran, Trump exploits yet another oil-abundant nation. Just like he did it with Venezuela, the exploitation of Iran’s crucial minerals might fall under the veil of “humanitarian intervention”. Now, as oil prices threaten to spike in the event of an attack on Iran, Trump has already secured a geopolitical asset: Having the greatest oil reserves in the world, Venezuela casually makes up for potentially soaring oil prices that might get along with an attack on Iran. In the U.S. bank of geopolitics, Venezuela therefore represents an important asset for future receivables in oil, paving the way for an unprecedented U.S. economic hegemony and an absolute autarchy.

The Night Is Over. Slowly, Morning Awakes. Sweeping away the Remains of Fear, it, in Generosity, Leaves Fatigue and Oddity

The U.S. has not attacked Iran yet! Why? Why was Al-Udaid Air Base evacuated yesterday? Never would I have assumed that studying in Qatar, supposedly one of the safest countries in the world, would let me wake up with concerns about military attacks. Not only is Qatar highly significant in alleviating military operations in the Middle East, it also enjoys genuine prestige for peaceful mediation and diplomacy in the region.  

My phone rings and a bunch of messages appear on my screen. For days I have been chatting with my Iranian friends in the diaspora. Few of them wanted to contribute to my reportage on the latest protests in Iran, not because of unwillingness, but because of fear of the Iranian regime. Privately, they told me what they hoped for. Nothing else would kick the incumbent Ayatollah, Ali Hosseini Khamenei, out of their Persian homeland than the American military. 

However, what would a U.S. intervention mean for the stability in the region? What would it mean for people in neighbouring countries? What would it mean for international students like me? And how will an intervention affect Iran’s sovereignty? 

It is difficult to make any predictions at this time, but what remains certain is the danger of an American operation that, disguised as an intervention, actually embodies the very instability of an independent Iran. Occupation would be the death for a thriving Iran, but retaining the murderous Iranian regime does not improve people’s lives either. It remains to hope that regional powers unite in solidarity and find peaceful ways in settling the conflict. Renouncing with the atrocious imposition of violence and threats would be the first step towards a restoration of international law and a cease of insomnia. It is international organizations that have to manifest their presence and capacity in settling the conflict, not power-hungry individuals.