It’s been nearly a month since wildcat protests erupted across Iran and, while there are still some reports of sporadic demonstrations and anti-government actions, it appears that the Islamic Republic has successfully smothered the embers of revolution and change, at least for now.

The action of the regime and its security forces in the face of nonviolent protest should put to rest any notion advanced by lobbyists or diplomats who argue that Iran is democratic just because it elects a parliament or those who imagine that regime reformists are somehow progressive. William Miller, a former Senate staffer and Clinton-era ambassador who continues to advocate for rapprochement with Iran, for example, once described Khomeini as “a progressive force for human rights,” a statement he never retracted. It’s also a statement on par with the reporting of Walter Duranty, who famously sanitized Stalin for the Western audience.