Predictably, the Islamic Republic has responded with brute force. Security services, paramilitary groups, and intelligence agencies have cracked down violently, leading to thousands of deaths and detentions according to human rights organizations and independent observers. Internet shutdowns, media blackouts, and censorship have become standard tools of repression.
The global reaction, especially from the United States and its allies, has followed a familiar script: statements of concern, selective sanctions, and thinly veiled discussions about “intervention.” But before Washington dares to lecture Iranians about democracy, it must confront an uncomfortable truth:
The current nightmare in Iran did not emerge in isolation. It was engineered — in part — by decades of Western interference, particularly by the United States.
The Original Sin: The 1953 CIA–MI6 Coup That Broke Iranian Democracy
Modern Iran’s tragedy cannot be understood without revisiting 1953 — the year Iran’s democratic experiment was deliberately crushed.
Mohammad Mosaddegh, Iran’s elected prime minister, was not a radical revolutionary. He was a nationalist reformer who believed Iran’s oil should benefit Iranians rather than foreign corporations. His decision to nationalize the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (now BP) enraged Britain and alarmed the United States, which feared losing strategic and economic control during the Cold War.
The response was Operation Ajax — a joint CIA and British intelligence coup that overthrew Mosaddegh, dismantled Iran’s democracy, and reinstated Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as an absolute monarch.
This was not accidental policy failure. It was a calculated intervention designed to protect Western oil interests and geopolitical dominance.
The consequences were devastating:
Democratic institutions were destroyed
Political opposition was outlawed
Torture and surveillance became state policy
Iranian sovereignty was subordinated to foreign powers
The coup taught Iranians a bitter lesson: when democracy threatens Western interests, democracy becomes expendable.
The Shah: America’s Strongman, Iran’s Dictator
For over two decades, the United States propped up the Shah as a “modernizing ally.” In reality, his regime was a textbook autocracy.
With U.S. funding, training, and intelligence support, the Shah’s secret police — SAVAK — became infamous for torture, disappearances, and extrajudicial killings. Political parties were crushed. Free speech was nonexistent. Economic inequality widened dramatically despite oil wealth.
Washington knew all of this. Yet the Shah was embraced because he was “stable,” “pro-Western,” and obedient to American strategic interests.
This moral hypocrisy fueled deep resentment inside Iran — resentment that would later explode.
1979: When Western Meddling Backfired Spectacularly
By the late 1970s, Iran was a pressure cooker. When the Shah finally fell in 1979, the revolution was not initially an Islamist project. It included liberals, leftists, students, workers, and religious groups united by one goal: ending dictatorship.
But decades of repression had destroyed secular political structures. Into that vacuum stepped Ruhollah Khomeini and the clerical establishment — organized, disciplined, and ruthless.
The Islamic Republic that emerged was not the inevitable outcome of Iranian culture. It was the unintended consequence of Western sabotage of Iranian democracy.
America, Saddam, and the Eight-Year Bloodbath
If U.S. policy toward Iran was disastrous before 1979, it became morally indefensible after.
When Saddam Hussein invaded Iran in 1980, the United States openly backed Iraq — not because Saddam was humane or democratic, but because Iran had become geopolitically inconvenient.
During the Iran-Iraq War:
The U.S. provided intelligence to Saddam
American companies supplied materials used for chemical weapons
Chemical attacks were carried out against Iranian soldiers and civilians
International outrage was muted — because Iran was the victim
Entire Iranian cities were scarred. Thousands of civilians died from chemical exposure. Yet accountability never came.
This was not “neutral diplomacy.” It was strategic complicity.
The Ultimate Hypocrisy: Arming Both Sides
Perhaps the most cynical chapter of all was the Iran-Contra affair. While publicly condemning Iran and backing Saddam, the U.S. secretly sold weapons to the Islamic Republic — via Israel — to fund covert operations elsewhere.
In plain terms:
Washington armed Saddam
Washington armed Iran
Iranians paid the price
This double game permanently shattered American credibility in the eyes of ordinary Iranians.
Today’s Uprising: A Homegrown Demand for Dignity
Fast forward to today. Iran’s protests are not foreign-orchestrated. They are not CIA plots. They are not Western inventions.
They are the result of decades of repression, corruption, economic mismanagement, and stolen futures.
Iranians know their history. They remember who crushed their democracy, who empowered dictators, who armed their enemies, and who traded their suffering for geopolitical leverage.
That is precisely why many Iranians reject Western “solutions.”
What the World Should Demand — Without Bullets
The Iranian people deserve global solidarity — not missiles. The international community should support clear, non-violent demands:
Immediate end to state violence against protesters
Restoration of internet access and media freedom
Release of political prisoners
Internationally supervised, genuinely free elections
Anything beyond this — especially military intervention — risks repeating the same historical crimes that created this crisis in the first place.
Iranians Are Not Helpless — They Are Proven Survivors
Iranian society has endured:
A foreign-engineered coup
A brutal monarchy
A theocratic dictatorship
An eight-year war of annihilation
Crushing sanctions and isolation
Yet the country remains culturally rich, intellectually vibrant, and socially resilient.
Iranians defended every inch of their land during the war with Iraq. They rebuilt their cities. They educated their children. They preserved their identity.
They are more than capable of reclaiming their country from the mullahs — without Western bombs “saving” them again.
One Simple Request to the West: Stay Out of the Way
For once in modern Middle Eastern history, the moral path is also the simplest one.
Support the Iranian people. Expose human rights abuses. Apply diplomatic pressure. Protect refugees. Amplify Iranian voices.
But do not impose leaders, engineer coups, sell weapons, or turn Iran into another geopolitical chessboard.
Iranians have earned the right to choose their destiny — freely, independently, and without foreign manipulation.
After everything they have endured, the least the world can do is not make it worse again.
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