admin
The courage of the Iranian people is plain to see as shopkeepers, students and ordinary citizens have taken to the streets in furious protest against a regime that has delivered economic ruin and repression for too long. What began as a bazaar strike over the rial’s collapse and soaring prices has rippled into universities and even attempts to storm local government buildings, showing a nation on the edge. These are not anonymous mobs — they are men and women risking everything to demand dignity and an end to kleptocratic rule.
Iran’s economic collapse has been swift and brutal, prompting the resignation of the central bank governor and the reappointment of a familiar technocrat in an obvious scramble to steady a sinking ship. The rial’s plunge and inflation running into the double digits have squeezed families’ budgets and produced a political backlash the clerical regime did not expect. When inflation and currency shocks meet decades of corruption, the public has every right to be furious and to hold the rulers accountable.
Former National Security Council official Fred Fleitz was right to warn on American Agenda that now is not the time for the United States or Israel to start bombing Iran in the name of moral rescue. Direct military intervention would hand the mullahs the propaganda victory they need to crush dissent and would likely strengthen their narrative of foreign conspiracy rather than the Iranian people’s legitimate demands. Conservatives should support the cause of freedom while rejecting reckless adventurism that would cost American lives and wreck the region further.
Reports from the ground say these protests have already produced clashes, injuries and at least one death in some provinces as security forces confront demonstrators, while the regime awkwardly offers “dialogue” to calm the streets. Street footage and state reports show brave Iranians refusing to be silenced — students chanting in university precincts and bazaars staying shuttered as a statement of national disgust. The imagery should remind every freedom-loving American what it means to stand against tyranny, not to appease it.
Let’s be crystal clear: the root cause here is contemptible regime mismanagement, corruption and the effects of sanctions that followed Iran’s own choices and malign behavior. Hardworking Americans should have no sympathy for the ayatollahs’ theocrats who squandered a nation’s potential and then try to blame foreign enemies when their policies explode at home. Our sympathy belongs with the Iranian shopkeeper, student and mother who just want to feed their children and live in safety.
What should patriotic Americans and sensible conservatives do? Publicly back the Iranian people’s call for liberty, push targeted sanctions aimed at the Revolutionary Guard and regime kleptocrats, expand secure internet access for dissidents, and offer refuge to those fleeing persecution — but avoid the siren call of military strikes that would only harm the very people we say we support. The fight for freedom in Iran is a moral test, and the right response is to empower Iranians, not to play global policeman on their behalf.
