AMNA NAWAZ: All week long, we have been talking to experts on Iran's nuclear program, its leadership, and on U.S. foreign policy, as President Trump weighs entering the war.

But speaking directly to people inside Iran is nearly impossible right now, as the regime clamps down on communications and spreads fear in communities.

Tonight, we're joined from Los Angeles by Nazanin Boniadi.

She's an actress and a human rights activist focused on Iran, where she was born and which her family fled after the 1979 revolution.

Nazanin, welcome back to the "News Hour."

Thanks for joining us.

NAZANIN BONIADI, Actress and Activist: Thanks for having me, Amna.

AMNA NAWAZ: So let's talk about the people of Iran.

At this moment, when they're facing both Israeli airstrikes and a weakened, oppressive regime many of them have tried to rise up against in the past, what do you hear from people you talk to?

What are they telling you?

NAZANIN BONIADI: There's a paradox inside Iran.

There's a deep sense of despair, because the Iranians are caught between foreign firepower and a regime that simply doesn't care about them.

They would soon see that the people burn and die and lives destroyed than to give up power.

This is a people who are caught between hope and despair in this moment.

But as much as they oppose the regime, they need to be able to organize.

This is the worst Internet shutdown we have seen since the bloody November protests of 2019, because, unfortunately, this regime, in the first instance, unleashes its fury first and foremost on its own people.

And that's what's happening right now.

Dissidents are in real danger.

My friend, a prominent rap artist, dissident rap artist Toomaj Salehi, just yesterday was detained by 30 plainclothes militia and interrogated violently for five hours.

Prisoners, political prisoners, are in grave danger, thousands of political prisoners inside Iran.

There's a university student Ali Younesi, who has been imprisoned in Evin on spurious national security charges for the past five years, who was abducted from Evin yesterday, according to his siblings.

And the list goes on and on.

But what I'm hearing more than anything is this echo for change, for democracy.

But how can they do that under bombardment?

AMNA NAWAZ: So tell me more about that call for change and what people are telling you about how they see that happening, because we hear from experts who are following this, the regime has been weakened, they're on the back foot.

What do people on the ground in Iran want to see happen next?

NAZANIN BONIADI: That's interesting you say that, Amna, because exactly -- you're exactly right.

Regime officials are doing an about-face.

The doctrine says -- the Islamic Republic doctrine is very much "Death to America," "Death to Israel."

And there's nothing pro-Iran or "Long live Iran" in the doctrine.

And yet, in the recent days, in these past few days, you have seen them do an about-face.

They, Khamenei, the supreme leader and former Foreign Minister Javad Zarif are appealing to a sense of Iranian nationalism, because they know they have lost the people.

The people care deeply about Iran, but we have to separate the Islamic Republic from Iran, because most of Iranian people believe that it's an occupying force.

A GAMAAN survey in 2022 revealed this, showing -- it's a scientific survey that was done with a sample size of 200,000, of which 157,000 were in inside Iran; 81 percent of respondents said they don't want the Islamic Republic; 14 percent -- or 15 percent said they do want the Islamic Republic; 4 percent were ambivalent.

They didn't know.

So the vast majority of Iranians still today will not rally behind the Islamic Republic flag.

I urge Westerners, please, if you want to stand for Iran and the Iranian people and their sovereignty, please don't conflate that with the Islamic Republic sovereignty.

They are two different things.

Do not raise the Islamic Republic's flag in your rallies.

That is a slap in the face of every dissident, every Iranian who has risked everything for freedom.

AMNA NAWAZ: Nazanin, on a more personal note, I know that you and your family have been watching this from afar with great concern, like so many others who fled after the revolution.

You wrote about these conversations with your father in particular in a recent piece for "TIME."

I just wonder how you're watching all of this, how he's watching this and how you're processing this moment, in the minute or so we have left.

NAZANIN BONIADI: My heart is torn in two.

I love Iran deeply.

I need to remove my emotions out of it, because I want nothing more than to see Iran.

But I want to see a free, democratic, just, peaceful Iran.

And so I know that that can't exist under the Islamic Republic.

It definitely can't exist under bombardment.

So please help the Iranian people achieve the self-determinism and determination that they - - as their God-given right, is their right.

And that's what I call on the international community to do.

AMNA NAWAZ: Nazanin Boniadi, thank you so much for joining us tonight.

It's always a pleasure to speak with you.

NAZANIN BONIADI: Thank you so much, Amna.