On the surface, it might seem like, look, this is a dictatorial regime. There’s a movement that’s trying to overthrow it, and the US intervenes on its side. Isn’t that a good thing?
The reason it might seem like a good thing is, well, this will give it the final push to overthrow the regime. But that’s only good if, after helping the final push, the US says, “Okay, my job is done here.” And it leaves the denouement, the resolution of the conflict, up to the Iranian population.
Well, that is not going to happen. If the US intervenes, it’s going to want to see a resolution on its own terms. And right now, it looks like its terms mean probably restoring the monarchy with the shah’s son.
Now, even if that isn’t the case, even if they have some quisling of their own, look at what it did in Iraq. The US went into Iraq, and it set up a corrupt, illegitimate regime of charlatans, hacks, and crooks, because they were the only people the US could trust.
Iran sits atop gigantic oil reserves. Iran is an absolutely central region geopolitically. It is at the hub of this part that connects West Asia to South Asia and Europe. There is no way the United States is going to play a neutral role in this. What needs to happen is that the progressives in the US should say, “Keep your hands off Iran, keep Israel out of Iran, and let the Iranian democratic revolution unfold.”
It might not be successful right now. It might take five, ten, or fifteen years. But the fact of the matter is, Iran led and initiated the revolutionary process in the Middle East with its constitutional revolution in 1905.
Since then, Europe and the United States have not left that region alone. That region has for a century been embroiled in what you would call a democratic revolution that’s been unfolding. The US has not let it unfold. That is the reason why you’ve had these theocratic autocracies ranging from the Gulf states all the way to Iran.
Our job, instead of this…
Auteur: Vivek Chibber
