By Forough Amin

13 Jan, 2026

A recent op-ed in The Post by Gwynne Dyer on January 3, 2026 warned that a post–Islamic Republic Iran could descend into the kind of civil war and fragmentation that devastated Syria. I would like to challenge this argument by addressing two central assumptions made by Dyer: first, that regime collapse in Iran risks unleashing ethnic separatism and armed conflict; second, that the 1979 revolution succeeded because of a uniquely non-violent, religiously infused protest model that is no longer available today. Both assumptions are flawed—and historically misleading. These claims can stem either from a lack of knowledge about the histories of the two countries—which is surprising coming from a professor of history—or from an alignment, intentional or otherwise, with the regime’s propaganda. I sincerely hope it is the…