iron hand

Penelope was surprised to hear it, for Mrs. Clarke ran the household with the iron hand of, well, a Spartan general, and that meant she was nearly always on the premises.

Some top U.S. officials have been advocating for an operation to remove Maduro, who has ruled Venezuela with an iron hand since 2013, administration officials and people familiar with the deliberations said.

Museveni's critics say he has ruled with an iron hand since he seized power as a rebel leader in 1986.

They are the Soviet nostalgics, longing to be ruled by Stalin’s iron hand.

This subject is governed by fear, surrendering their agency to the grip of cult-like devotion and the iron hand of strongman figures.