Defeating the Islamic Republic of Iran Is Entirely Justified Part 2

By Hushang Manuchehri and Walter E. Block

Aircrafts, attached to Carrier Air Wing 9 (CVW9) fly over the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Daniel Kimmelman) The appearance of U.S. Department of War (DoW) visual information does not imply or constitute DoW endorsement.

See Part 1 HERE

Similarly, the regime initiated its warfare with the “Big Satan” through an unprovoked violation of international law: the 1979 seizure of the U.S. Embassy. In the decades since, they have continued to target and kill Americans worldwide. This long record of hostility underscores a historical irony: after decades under the mullahs’ rule, the Iranian people have finally realized the immense con job played upon them, recognizing that the true martyr of modern Iran was neither Khomeini nor Mossadegh, but the Shah himself. Lacking the aggressive propaganda machines of his Marxist and Islamist adversaries, the Shah tragically lost the war of narratives during the Cold War.

He was ultimately abandoned by Jimmy Carter — a historical forerunner to Joe Biden. At worst, the Shah was a secular, benevolent autocrat, far ahead of his time. Yet Western academics and leftist intellectuals, fueled by a chronic anti-Western bias, painted him as a monster of cruelty. In reality, many, of the radicals he arrested — and mercifully spared from execution — were active jihadist terrorists. They later seized the state, engaged in launching immediate domestic purges, exporting fundamentalism, taking hostages, and destabilizing the region. Five decades ago, the Shah presciently warned of this very catastrophe, cautioning the world against the unholy alliance of the “Red and Black Reaction” — the Marxists and the Islamic fundamentalists. But the world did not listen.

Despite the regime’s ongoing defiance, why the reservation about this praise for courage? Why only a back-handed compliment? Because “bravery” is only one way to describe their willingness to confront overwhelming force. Another, much more accurate word, is “fanaticism.” The mullahs operate on an entirely different wavelength than civilized folk. Their motto might as well be “justice though the heavens fall” — but by “justice” they mean the eradication of all Jews, starting with those living in the Hebrew state. A nuclear-armed Islamic Republic is surely a specter to alarm all living things, not only human beings.

Here, then, in contrast, is the heartfelt compliment. They cannot run an economy out of a paper bag. Their notion of justice — killing Jews, homosexuals, indeed all non-Muslims, mistreating their own women — is appalling. However, when it comes to public relations, they are truly world-class. The Western consensus on the Islamic Republic differs sharply from its view of other totalitarian states. Everyone understands the brutality of North Korea, but the Islamic Republic has largely escaped that level of pariah status. This is not because the regime is less violent — it’s because it is far wealthier and much better connected. A cash-starved Pyongyang cannot fund professional public relations campaigns or buy influence in foreign capitals. Tehran, on the other hand, has spent decades using its oil revenues to build a highly effective lobby in the West. The children of the ruling elite — the Aghazadehs — do not just spend their families’ stolen wealth on Western real estate. They secure positions in universities and think tanks, where they promote the regime’s interests under the cover of academic expertise. If there were a gold medal in the Olympics for getting the word out, these rulers would win it easily.

Thanks to their legerdemain, and that of their assistants — Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis — on October 8, 2023, before the IDF had taken any counteraction whatsoever, students were already blaming Israel. That country was accused of genocide, not its actual perpetrator, Hamas. Also in the indictment: colonialism, disproportionality, apartheid, and all the rest. Tent cities sprang up at Harvard, Columbia, and less prestigious institutions of so-called higher learning, where misguided students even chanted in support of Khamenei.

The irony here is staggering. While privileged Western students cheered for the ayatollahs and Hamas, students inside Iranian universities were risking extreme danger to burn Khamenei’s picture and the regime’s flag. The stark reality, completely missed by the Western press, is that the Iranian people overwhelmingly love Israelis, Jews, and Americans. During the recent military exchanges, ordinary Iranians didn’t cower in fear at the vibrations of incoming bombs; they welcomed them, hoping the strikes would finally decapitate their ruling class. When Trump and Netanyahu announced that Khamenei had been killed in the February 28 airstrikes, many Iranians erupted in celebration. The streets of Tehran echoed with the blaring of car horns and the ecstatic cheers of people calling out from their homes. They had never believed they would live to see the end of the dictator who, just a month earlier, had slaughtered tens of thousands of protesters. Their greatest disappointment was not that war had come, but that the conflict paused with the regime still intact.

This is the true face of the Iranian people—a sentiment mirrored globally by the Iranian diaspora, who routinely gather waving American, Israeli, and the historic Iranian Lion and Sun flag. But what of the “pro-regime” demonstrations blasted across the regime’s state-run propaganda channels? Manufactured, every single one. There are no genuine marches of support for the ayatollahs. What you’re watching is state theater: government workers coerced into showing up, subsidized loyalists, millions of dollars spent bussing bodies into the street just to be filmed for a foreign audience. Behind the cameras, the Islamic Republic is an empty shell, ruled entirely by the bayonet. Yes, thousands poured into the streets at his funeral. But this hardly demonstrated love for this evil man. This decision arose out of fear of non-participation.

Yet somehow — don’t ask — Tehran’s PR machine successfully convinced Obama and Biden to support them, giving Israel the back of their hand in a “friendly” way, of course. Mamdani’s assistants recently attempted to liaise with the ayatollahs; who knew that the Big Apple has a foreign policy all its own? The mayor of New York City — home to more Jews than anywhere else except Israel — threatened to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu if he ever dared show up there. Bernie Sanders, AOC, the Squad, the Democratic Socialists who now loom large in the party of the donkey — all of them support Iran over Israel. This, despite the fact that the former is the aggressor, the latter the victim.

When it comes to gaining positive publicity for their cause, the Islamic Republic and its satraps are unsurpassed. Hats off to the regime’s magnificent public relations ability.