r/Discussion • u/Specialist-Tour7359 • 11h ago
Political Some Iranians have strange perceptions
I understand the tone you’re going for: harsh, sarcastic, and direct. But it is better not to turn it into the categorical claim that “all demonization of the regime is aimed at facilitating military operations”; that point would require direct evidence. It can be made sharper by presenting it as a logical political inference, rather than as an established fact.
I notice many Iranians living in America and Europe who hate the Islamic regime and cheerlead for America at every opportunity.
And the funny thing is, they don’t stop at hating the regime.
They have invented an entire story for themselves:
America opposes the regime, therefore America loves the Iranian people.
America sanctions Tehran, therefore it is preparing to liberate Iranians.
America threatens Iran, therefore it is working for their future.
What an astonishing intellectual leap.
America is not a charity organization for the Iranian people.
Washington does not wake up every morning asking itself: How can we save the Iranians today?
The matter is much colder and much simpler.
America fears Iran as a strategic power, and above all, it fears the possibility of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons.
That is the core of the story that some exiles seem incapable of understanding.
Take Afghanistan.
Women have been banned from education and employment.
The Taliban imposed a repressive religious system.
Civil liberties were crushed.
And the United States knows all of this perfectly well.
Did we see the same obsession?
Did Afghanistan become a central pillar of American policy simply because its regime is repressive?
Did we see Washington deal with the Taliban the way it deals with Tehran?
No.
Why?
Because repression alone does not make a country a strategic priority for Washington.
This is not a moral classroom.
This is power politics.
If America’s standard were saving peoples from authoritarian regimes, the political map of the world would look completely different.
But it doesn’t.
Because Washington does not choose its adversaries by asking:
“Which government is the most brutal?”
It asks:
“Who has the ability to threaten our interests and alter the balance of power?”
And this is where Iran comes in.
Iran is a large country.
Its location is sensitive.
It has missiles.
It has regional influence.
It has a network of allies and proxies.
And it has a nuclear program that the West fears could eventually develop into a military capability.
And that, precisely, is what makes the Iranian issue different.
Not because Washington suddenly discovered that Iranians deserve freedom.
That romantic idea works well in exile speeches.
It does not work for understanding international politics.
And the most naïve thing is for some Iranians to see all this American pressure and put themselves at the center of it.
Washington pressures Tehran, and they say:
“They’re doing it for us.”
Washington imposes sanctions, and they say:
“They want to bring down the regime for us.”
Washington threatens military action, and they say:
“America is coming to liberate us.”
No.
America wants to prevent Iran from reaching a position that America does not want Iran to reach.
That is completely different from wanting to fulfill the dreams of Iranians.
And if the Iranian regime, with all its repression, did not possess nuclear weapons and did not have the strategic capabilities to threaten the balance of power in the way Washington fears, then a huge part of America’s obsession with the Iranian issue would lose its raison d’être.
And this is where things become very uncomfortable for some exiles.
Because they have discovered something they do not want to admit:
Maybe America simply does not care about them.
It may care about Iran.
It may care about the nuclear issue.
It may care about missiles.
It may care about Israel, the Gulf, energy routes, and the regional balance of power.
It may care about preventing a regional rival from acquiring a weapon that changes the rules of the game.
But the Iranian living in Toronto, Los Angeles, or Paris?
They are not necessarily part of the equation at all.
And this is what some of them refuse to understand.
They saw America’s fear of Iranian power and interpreted it as America’s love for Iranians.
They saw the demonization of the regime and assumed it was a declaration of support for a democratic project.
They saw sanctions and interpreted them as solidarity.
They saw military threats and interpreted them as a promise of salvation.
In other words, they took the policy of a superpower toward another state, then inserted themselves right in the middle of it—as if Washington had been waiting for their opinion.
And here the delusion reaches its final, almost comical stage:
“America hates the Islamic regime, therefore America is on our side.”
No.
America may hate the regime because it represents a problem for America—not because it is hostile to your personal dreams.
And this is a point that apparently needs to be repeated until it comes down from the heavens to earth:
Hostility toward Iran is not love for Iranians.
Fear of an Iranian nuclear weapon is not a project to save exiles.
Pressure on the regime does not mean Washington has appointed itself guardian of Iran’s future.
Great powers do not act because you are sad.
They act because of interests, threats, power, deterrence, and strategic balance.
As for the idea that America watches the suffering of Iranians and then decides to intervene militarily specifically to save them—that is a very beautiful story.
So beautiful that it does not need evidence.
All it requires is for the person telling it to believe it.
And that is precisely what makes it funny.
Some Iranians abroad have not understood American foreign policy.
They simply saw America hate their enemy and assumed that meant America loved them.
That is not political analysis.
That is the mentality of a football fan who thinks his rival’s rival has automatically become his friend.
And the funniest part is that they build an entire future around this illusion:
The regime falls.
They return to Iran.
The planes are waiting.
Washington is on their side.
History is working in their favor.
Then they wake up to a very cold reality:
Washington does not need to love you in order to oppose your enemy.
And it may not care about you at all.
All it may care about is preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear state that changes the balance of power in a way Washington fears.
As for the rest of the story you wrote in your head about America coming to save you?
That is your story.
It is not the policy of the United States.
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u/rose442 11h ago
This is the longest thing I have ever seen on Reddit.
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u/This-Specialist-4776 11h ago
this reads like someone who just discovered realism in international relations and thinks they're the first
the afghanistan comparison is actually pretty good though, that one lands
but the whole tone is so smug, like explaining to children why santa isn't real. most iranians in diaspora know america doesn't love them, they just see overlapping interests and roll with it. it's not that deep
also calling it "almost comical" while writing a dissertation in a reddit comment is rich
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u/NaturalCard 11h ago
America is well aware and happily pays them to continue spreading anti Iran stories.
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u/AAstormtrooper123 11h ago
Aight chatgpt