Not the same. Please don’t write this off as some sort of same-but-different kind of situation. The Islamic Republic is way, way more brutal, even if it has employed many of the same tactics in repression of dissent.

They have used child soldiers and even execute children. They are systematically raping men women and children right now in their prisons as torture against protesters, in addition to other types of physical and psychological torture they use as a matter of policy. The regime has been selling off pieces of the country to anyone willing to buy, and for almost nothing. They’ve destroyed so much of the natural environment of Iran, they’ve literally put poison in the earth, water and in the air. They have been spreading and sponsoring terrorism around the world, especially menacing their neighbors. They have instituted a gender apartheid and made all women second class citizens.

Anything to further their own agenda is to them not only morally justifiable, but morally required. With a religious mandate to spread their ideology and become a religious super power, they will do anything to accomplish their goals. Even if that means destroying Iran to make it happen.

The shah may have been a dictator, but he also loved Iran and loved Iranians. The Islamic Republic only sees Iranians and Iran as a means to and end.

Please checkout r/NewIran if you’re interested in seeing some of the struggle against this regime.