Iran Reformers are one big lie

Tehran’s lobby in Washington uses ‘reform’ as an excuse to defend regime

The pro-Iran regime lobby in Washington is unhappy that Iran “elected” radical Ibrahim Raisi as president of Iran. Raisi is believed to have ordered the murder of hundreds of Iranian dissidents. 

But Tehran’s lobby in DC does not blame the Iranians for electing a murderer. It blames Washington. According to their articles and arguments on TV networks, Iran regime apologists think that Raisi was elected because former President Donald Trump withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), aka the Iran nuclear deal. 

The Iran lobby accuses Trump of reinstating US sanctions on Iran, not because he wanted to improve the nuclear deal like he said, but because the hawks in his administration wanted to see Iran radicalize, which in turn will accelerate the demise of the Iranian theocracy, a demise that will make the lobby unhappy.

But what is the alternative to the radicals ruling Iran? The Tehran lobby in Washington thinks that removing US sanctions empowers the hand of Iran’s Reformers, who can then deliver economic prosperity to the Iranian populace. And then what? Why is a Reformers’ government good for America or its allies? And when did Reformers in power in Iran, whether in the 1990s or throughout the past eight years, ever tame Iran’s troublemaking behavior or its sponsorship of global terrorism?

Even when America flexed its muscles by killing the radical Iranian Republican IRGC militia general Qassem Soleimani, which should have given Iran’s Reformers an advantage, Iran’s lobby in DC went bonkers, arguing that killing Soleimani was a reckless declaration of war on Iran, that all Iranians would rally around the flag to defend the homeland, and that all Iranians joined Soleimani’s funeral. So Iranians boycott presidential election when reformers cannot deliver on economic prosperity, but join Soleimani’s funeral for free? 

Reform in Iran is one big lie, and Tehran’s lobbyists promoting Iranian Reformers are even bigger liars. Reform is impossible in Iran because the Islamist state was designed as a militant state. The difference between Iran’s radicals commonly referred to as Conservatives, and their Reform rivals is over how to maintain the Iranian theocracy and expand its influence. 

Iran’s Reformers think that Iran can negotiate its way out of sanctions, and then use oil revenue to fund its nukes, missiles and global terrorism, while Iran’s radicals think their country should become economically self sufficient in order to become immune to any foreign sanctions, and be able to fund — at will — its nukes, missiles and terror.

Iran is a problem for the Middle East and the world. The only way to solve this problem is to bring down its militant Islamist regime, and that does not mean going to war. America, after all, defeated a much bigger power — the Soviet Union — through a combination of economic, diplomatic and spy wars, and the same tools can be used to bring down the Iranian regime, without firing a single shot. 

Meanwhile, Iranian regime apologists in Washington can say or write whatever they want. Just keep in mind that you will never hear or read them blame Tehran’s regime for any wrong. They will always blame America. That’s what the global Left does. That’s what the de-colonization crowd does. Their animosity toward a global system in the image of European Enlightenment is much bigger than their love of Iran, and such animosity toward the global system and its American chaperon will certainly outlast the Islamist Iranian regime.