The widespread protests in Iran demonstrate the failure of the Islamic regime. In common with previous revolutionary states in the Middle East — in Iraq, Libya, South Yemen, and Syria — the Islamic Republic of Iran has delivered neither prosperity nor social justice. Its main achievement is to be more corrupt and repressive than its predecessor. Although the U.S. government should support protests that weaken Iran’s government and expose its lack of legitimacy, the U.S. must first stop enabling the Islamic regime.
Despite its rhetoric, the Trump administration has followed the Obama administration in accommodating the Islamic Republic’s regional ambitions while announcing sanctions. President Barack Obama strengthened the clerical regime by not opposing Iran’s military intervention in Syria and ignoring Iranian support for sectarian militias in Iraq. Along with the chief of staff during his second term, Denis McDonough, Obama convinced himself that Iran was “losing as much as anybody” in the Syrian civil war. Obama then adopted a new rationale for allowing Iran to commit war crimes on behalf of the Syrian regime, to preserve the Iran nuclear deal.
