For years, Iran’s Islamic Republic tried to sell a picture to the world, as George Orwell once put it, by ‘giving an appearance of solidity to pure wind’. Its negotiating technique was never complicated; it was simple stonewalling. Yet it is striking how different administrations interpreted that posture. Barack Obama saw them as complicated, sophisticated negotiators. Donald Trump thought they were fools. What happened on February 28 seemed to vindicate Trump. The tyrant who dreamed of total victory in a civilisational war fell on the very first day of it.
Yet many still cling to illusions about Iran. The New York Times described Khamenei as a ‘Hard-Line Cleric Who Made Iran a Regional Power’. But as the past year has shown, the Islamic Republic was a paper tiger. It failed to keep Assad in power. Its proxies were shattered. During the 12-day war, Foreign Minister Araghchi reportedly had to seek Israel’s permission to fly from Iran to Europe for negotiations. Then the leader, senior IRGC generals and the defence minister were killed on the first day of war. The absurdity runs deeper: the regime cannot even smoothly appoint a successor. Formally, the Assembly of Experts must convene to choose the next leader, but out of fear their meeting could be bombed, the IRGC is said to be urging them to bypass the ritual and simply announce a name.
The Islamic Republic was never a regional superpower; it was a regional thug. Khamenei’s model of governance was inherently hostile to human wellbeing. When Massoud Roghani Zanjani, a prominent Iranian economist, criticised his economic policies in a meeting, Khamenei reportedly replied that he feared ‘economic prosperity would make people abandon religion’. His hostility toward places like Dubai sprang from the same mindset – one that despises prosperity and Western symbols of success.
The illusions of that old man destroyed the dreams of millions of my Iranian compatriots. Many fled the country; many died in the streets. Isolated from the world, Iran faced point-to-point inflation of 62.2% in the last month, youth unemployment above 20% and a ninefold increase in the price of bread over the past four years. While he pursued his regional ambitions, he hollowed out Iran’s economy.
When Covid vaccines were developed, he banned their import, claiming that Americans sought to alter Iranians’ DNA. He later reversed the decision, but thousands more had died in the meantime. In the 21st century, he insisted on enforcing compulsory hijab. When women resisted, they were arrested, beaten, even killed, as in the case of Mahsa Amini.
One of my earliest political memories is the 2009 Green Movement. We lived in an old house near Meydan-e Enghelab in central Tehran, close to the protests’ epicentre. I remember my family opening the yard door and, within seconds, it filling with students desperate for a place to hide. I still see in my mind masked men on motorcycles scouring the streets for them. I did not know then that I would one day be among the protesting students during the Mahsa Amini demonstrations.
The deeper tragedy is that Khamenei’s medieval style of governance robbed Iran of its rightful place in the modern age. A country that, 50 years ago, was on a path toward growth – closer to what Dubai would later become – now struggles for the most basic rights: to protest without being shot. The legacy of that sick man is one of oppression, illusion and pain for tens of thousands of families. His death feels, to many, like a grim relief – proof that our suffering was not meaningless. As Cesare Pavese wrote, ‘You cannot insult a man more atrociously than by refusing to believe he is suffering’. For many Iranians, recent intervention by Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu appears to vindicate years of resistance against the Islamic Republic.
Some on both the far Right and the far Left are proving again the old ‘horseshoe theory’, insisting that we should not care about Iran. But while you ignore Iran, it does not ignore you. The Director General of MI5 revealed that since 2022, the UK has disrupted 20 Iran-backed plots posing potentially lethal threats to British citizens and residents. Parliament’s intelligence and security committee warns that Iran represents a persistent threat. The regime’s propaganda arm operates openly in London through the Islamic Centre of England, whose leadership was directly appointed by Khamenei. According to Bloomberg, Khamenei’s son Mojtaba – also reported killed – held extensive real estate interests in London. Iran is not a distant problem; it becomes yours whether you wish it or not. As Margaret Thatcher once warned, ‘when you stop a dictator, there are always risks. But there are greater risks in not stopping a dictator’.
What comes next, now that the Supreme Leader is dead, nine Iranian ships have reportedly been sunk, and IRGC bases are under attack? Iranians are preparing for what Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi calls the ‘final battle’. For the first time in decades, ordinary Iranians may have a genuine chance to shape their own destiny, rather than watch it decided solely by foreign intervention. What the ‘no war with Iran’ crowd fails to grasp is that, unlike in WEIRD (Western, educated, industrialised, rich and democratic) countries, dictatorships do not change through shifts in opinion alone. Armed men with machine guns stand in the streets to prevent it. Military intervention has, paradoxically, levelled the ground, giving ordinary Iranians an opening to reclaim their future – and, at last, to end this 50-year long nightmare.
Josiah Quincy Jr., who was the mayor of Boston in the middle of the nineteenth century, wrote in his Last Will and Testament that his son should read ‘John Locke’s works, – Lord Bacon’s works, – Gordon’s Tacitus, – and Cato’s Letters. May the spirit of liberty rest upon him!’ Indeed, there is nothing closer […]
Spare a thought for Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, heading the US negotiating team, as they met with Qatari Emir Al Thani this week to discuss the ‘progress of the negotiations’ between the US and the Iranian regime in the Qatari capital, Doha. While the venue for the talks has shifted from Pakistan to Switzerland […]
The World Cup starts today and for the first time in over 30 years it is being held in North America. Not only is this exciting news for football fans, it should also be of interest to free trade enthusiasts, as the last time it was held there the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) […]
