Empower the Iranian people
Originally published for The Washington Times.
OPINION:
We don’t want war. The Iranian people don’t want war. Here’s how we can help us both without firing a bullet.
For decades, U.S. foreign policy toward Iran has been trapped in a false dichotomy. Democrats and Republicans have wavered between two simplistic, shortsighted options when dealing with Iran’s authoritarian regime with little consideration for alternatives.
Bomb them, or let them get the bomb. That has been the debate.
These binary choices fail to account for the most powerful force within Iran itself: the Iranian people.
It’s time to move beyond this limited perspective and champion the third option.
Allow Iran’s citizens, through grassroots action, to reclaim their destiny and establish a future grounded in their long-held aspirations for democracy and human rights.
The United States doesn’t need to use military action beyond its targeted campaigns to defeat the regime, nor should it stand idly by as fundamentalist mullahs acquire weapons of mass destruction that they’re crazy enough to use. Rather, we should support the Iranian people in bringing about the secular, democratic society they overwhelmingly desire.
For 46 years, the Iranian people have made their grievances known, coming to the streets in waves of protests over issues such as human rights and women’s freedoms and addressing plunging economic conditions and brutal crackdowns. Their voices have consistently cried for one thing: freedom from this regime.
Take the 2009 Green Revolution, also known as the “Twitter Revolution.” Millions of Iranians flooded the streets in protest over a sham election that handed victory to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, representing the theocratic establishment. For the first time, the global community got an unfiltered glimpse of the Iranian people: a modern, educated, young and resilient population now demanding freedom and the end of this brutal regime.
More recently, in September 2022, Iran’s women sparked a movement that shook the nation to its core. The tragic death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, beaten by the morality police for the simple act of letting a few strands of hair show outside her hijab, ignited a fire of defiance. Waves of protesters, women and men alike, took to the streets, uniting from cities to villages, from liberal hubs to conservative clerical villages.
These were not just demonstrations; they were the most powerful and widespread acts of resistance seen in the 46 years of the mullahs’ rule. Their voices were fierce, but the regime’s response was even fiercer.
Still, the clerical rulers understand this hard truth: Their greatest threat is not foreign sanctions or military forces; it is their own people, exhausted and determined, who hold the power to end their reign.
Iran is a country of nearly 85 million people, two-thirds of whom are younger than 45. Most of them were born after the Iranian Revolution and never experienced life under the Shah’s rule. However, they appear to yearn for the very freedoms their parents once knew before theocratic oppression robbed them of even the most basic of rights. The Iranian people stand as a ready ally.
Some prominent voices have recently attempted to reframe or even excuse the crimes of the regime, perhaps in a bid to reduce the chances of military conflict. Who wants war, right? But let’s be clear: This isn’t anti-war. This so-called anti-war rhetoric twists itself into incoherent arguments that ultimately shield the mullahs from accountability for their blatant crimes at home and abroad. What we’re seeing is not a call for peace; it’s appeasement dressed up in language meant to silence criticism. It’s a dangerous gamble placating a brutal theocracy for the fleeting illusion of stability.
We don’t need to fondle the ayatollahs or give them legitimacy. They do not deserve to be wary of direct military confrontation. Being anti-war does not mean supporting a regime that kills its own citizens, executes protesters and silences dissent with shocking brutality.
In 2005, I produced a documentary I was invited to show in a subcommittee of Congress. “Marze Por Gohar (“The Glorious Frontiers”): Bringing Regime Change to Iran,” which explores Iran’s underground democracy movement or, in other words, the third option.
Beneath the surface of the regime’s authoritarian grip is a pulsating and exponentially growing heartbeat of defiance. Iranian activists risk everything for a chance at building a secular, democratic Iran. Their voices, now resounding louder than ever, fuel ongoing protests demanding basic individual freedoms and human rights. This defiance hasn’t weakened; it has only intensified.
The time has come to revisit and advocate for the third option. This should be a bipartisan strategy for bringing meaningful change to Iran and stability to the region and the world. Supporting this approach isn’t about imposing American-style democracy on a sovereign nation; it’s about recognizing and amplifying the fight for freedom that Iranians are already waging for themselves.
The solution is neither war nor willful ignorance. It’s time we answer their call and support the Iranian people, our most valuable ally in building a free, secular and thriving Iran. Neither bombs nor blind appeasement will bring lasting peace to the region, but empowering a nation’s people to decide their future just might. It’s time to choose the third option.
