Manipal: Iranians are an ancient civilisation with several millennia of tradition. These have endured despite persecution by the clerical regime since 1979, when millions flooded the streets of Tehran, Isfahan and other Iranian cities to throw out the royal regime of Shah Reza Pahlavi, which has an antiquity of just two generations, the Shah’s father having toppled the civilian regime earlier. Unfortunately for the people of Iran, formerly known as Persia, the street demonstrations were made use of by a small but disciplined group of clerics led by Ayatollah Khomeini.
The Ayatollah in short order did away with the civilian leadership led by Bani-Sadr who had taken over the reins of government for a brief while. The secular stance of President Bani-Sadr was anathema to the Ayatollah, who roused the clerical fury of the clergy to send Bani-Sadr back into exile. From then on, as the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khomeini would rule Iran, until he died and was replaced by Ayatollah Khamenei, who was as fanatic as Ayatollah Khomeini was, and equally committed to keeping the clerical regime intact, including the dictatorial power of the Supreme Leader.
Khomeini and thereafter Khamenei made no secret of their hatred for the Jewish community, and the ambition to wipe out the State of Israel. The Jewish state would not have been a threat to the clerical regime in Iran were it not for the unwise, indeed absurd, policy of wiping out the State of Israel. As a consequence, the Iranian regime became an existential threat to Israel in a way the regime of the Shah was not. Indeed, the Pahlavis liked the Jewish people for their brilliance and enterprise, and made sure through his secret police, the Savak, that the small Jewish community in Iran was protected from fanatic clerics in Iran, whose toxicity was completely at odds with the mainstream Shia civilisation.
To the clerical war cry of “Maar bar Israel” (death to Israel) was added “Maar bar America”. (death to America). All that this has succeeded in doing is further strengthening the already strong bonds between Israel and the US. If the slogan of the clerical regime is “death to America”, it ought to occasion no surprise that a powerful US naval fleet is getting closer and closer to Iran. Should the clerical regime commit the folly of launching missiles at the US fleet, that would through a counterattack signal its demise, together, unfortunately, with several of the non-clerical and indeed anti-clerical citizens of Iran as collateral damage.
The same would apply to any attack on the State of Israel. Not unlike ancient Sparta, the small state has a population trained in battle. Every citizen of the State of Israel has to do compulsory service in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and serve in the armed forces reserve, ready to do battle if the Jewish state is attacked.
The internal situation in Iran being what it is, such a battle may not be needed. Millions of Iranians are on the streets calling for the end of the clerical regime, and they are so fed up with the dictatorship of the Ayatollahs that the regime killing dozens of them in acts of cold-blooded murder does not deter them. Their war cry is “Freedom and Democracy”. They were cheated of that when their fathers and grandfathers revolted in 1979 against the Pahlavis.
Instead of freedom and democracy, they were given instead a clerical dictatorship even more oppressive than that of the Pahlavis who came to rule over them. They are determined not to be cheated a second time around. They will revolt until a regime like that of President Bani-Sadr briefly in 1979 returns. With all its faults, a genuine democracy based on the popular vote is preferable to a dictatorship, against which sooner or later they will revolt. Even if a regime they elected turns out to be tending to the oppressive, they will take revenge not on the streets but on the hustings.
In the US, the tactics used by ICE against not just illegal immigrants but known US citizens have shocked the conscience of US citizens. They remember that the US Constitution promises each citizen an opportunity for “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”. The US has among the finest Constitutions within the democracies, and the framers of the Indian Constitution appear to have relied in some ways on its US counterpart.
The 2026 midterm elections, unless President Trump changes course well before that—in fact now—are likely to, in the words of Senator Ted Cruz to President Trump, be a “bloodbath of Republican seats”. The President replied with an expletive to Senator Cruz that is too obscene to mention.
The US is resilient, surviving and indeed thriving after a civil war, several recessions and even a Great Depression, two World Wars and a number of smaller wars because of the high tensile strength of its institutions. Similar is the case with India. Despite its faults, and nothing is perfect, the institutions of India remain strong, which is why the country has avoided going the way of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.
In Iran, there is not even a whiff of democracy in any of its institutions, which is why the clerical regime is doomed to fall. After long years of travail, the people of Iran deserve the freedoms and rights only a democracy can provide. Which is why they will continue their anti-regime protests until the country comes full circle since the Bani Sadr government in 1979. This time around the people of Iran with their rich civilisational heritage will continue in revolt until the clerics flee the way the Shah did in 1979.
