85% of Iranians are against the government: Nick Berg

(NewsNation) — Iranian-born author Nick Berg told NewsNation that Iran has publicly executed at least 1,700 people in 2025, adding that much of the country is against its current government.
Berg, an Iranian-born author of 'Shadows of Tehran,' joined 'Elizabeth Vargas Reports' to discuss the current reality in Iran and why he believes a dayslong internet blackout has occurred.
'About 85 to 90% of the people, ordinary Iranians, are against the government,' Berg said.
'The Iranian regime lives by fear, and they have killed hundreds of thousands of people throughout these last 40 years in Iran. There are mass graves in Iran that nobody knows about from the people, from the people who were against them. Just this year, they carried out about 1,700 public executions.'
Trump says DNI Tulsi Gabbard 'wrong' on Iran
Berg has not spoken to his 85-year-old mother or any other family members in five days. He believes the blackout is an intentional move by the government to maintain control and prevent large-scale protests.
'One of the reasons they cut off the internet is exactly that, because people use the internet to organize things,' he added.
Despite images of Iranians burning flags often making their way into the media, Berg believes some are paid actors and others are merely fanatics.
'Those are the religious fanatics who, every time something happens, come to the streets and start screaming and doing all of that. This is nothing new for Iran. It always happens,' he said.
'A lot of them come from villages, and the government sends buses to the villages; they gather these people up and pay them to come to these demonstrations.'
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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