The Iranian people are leading the charge for their own freedom
Originally published in The Washington Times
OPINION:
America’s foreign policy establishment is suffering from a kind of post-traumatic stress. After the costly, destabilizing interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are rightfully wary of any talk of “regime change.” The world watched as trillions of dollars were spent, thousands of lives were lost, and the promise of democracy gave way to chaos and the rise of new threats. And since, both Democrats and Republicans have refrained from employing rhetoric, and consequently policy, that could be construed as paving a path toward regime change.
But not all regime changes are created equal.
Iran is not Iraq. Iran is not Afghanistan. And the Iranian people are not waiting for the United States to liberate them — they are already leading the charge for their own freedom and have been for years.
We saw it in 2009, when millions of Iranians took to the streets in the Green Movement, risking everything to demand the removal of a fraudulent president and the end of a repressive regime. We saw it again, more recently, after the senseless death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini — killed by the regime’s so-called “morality police” for the crime of showing some of her hair. Her murder ignited the “Women, Life, Freedom” revolution, a movement that has united Iranians across age, gender and background in a cry for basic human rights.
This is not a foreign-imposed fantasy. This is an organic, homegrown demand for change, sustained in the face of unspeakable brutality. The regime has responded with live ammunition, torture, rape and executions — even hanging young Iranians for the “crime” of a Facebook post, song or dance. More than 21,000 protesters have been arrested and more than 550 have been killed, yet the movement endures.
The world must recognize what is happening. The Iranian people want regime change. They are not asking for American boots on the ground — they are asking for the world to stand with them, not with their oppressors.
And yet, Washington just completed another round of nuclear talks with Tehran’s tyrants. More empty promises of transparency and moderation from a regime that has never been transparent or moderate and never will be. The centrifuges keep spinning. The regime continues to funnel billions to its terrorist proxies — Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis — while its own people are impoverished, imprisoned and murdered for daring to dream of freedom.
Let’s be clear: The Islamic Republic of Iran is not a regime that can be reformed or trusted. It is a 46-year-old dictatorship that survives by hanging, shooting and silencing its best and brightest. Every negotiation, every concession, only buys the regime more time to repress its people at home and spread terror abroad.
The lesson of Iraq and Afghanistan is not that all regime change is doomed to fail. The lesson is that in diplomacy and political warfare, we cannot take a one-size-fits-all approach. The other lesson is that regime change must be led by the people themselves, not imposed from outside. In Iran, that is exactly what is happening.
Our job is not to micromanage their revolution, but to support it — by isolating the regime diplomatically and economically, by amplifying the voices of Iran’s brave dissidents and by refusing to legitimize a government that murders its own children. After all, this is a regime that has also has American blood on its hands, that has threatened more than once to assassinate President Trump and continues to be a regional threat and destabilizer against American interests.
Not all regime changes are created equal. The Iranian people have made their choice. It’s time the free world stood with them.
Lisa Daftari is an Iranian American journalist and political commentator, with expertise in the Middle East and counterterrorism. She is the founding editor at The Foreign Desk.
