Iraq.
Libya.
Egypt.
Syria.
Gaza.
Somalia.
No CIA- and Mossad-constructed regime change operation in the Middle East has ever made life better for the ordinary people of the country, nor even delivered the promised increase in personal and political freedoms.
The only limited improvement that might be gained comes from the lifting of Western sanction regimes. Apparently you can now buy M&Ms much more freely in Damascus. But that in itself is a reminder that the alleged “misgovernance” of non-puppet regimes is often the direct result of sanctions.
That is entirely true of the current situation in Iran, where the current unrest was almost entirely sparked by economic hardship attributable directly to Western sanctions on what should be a very wealthy country.
If anybody really wanted to help actual Iranians, they should be campaigning to lift the sanctions. Making that dependent on the installation of a Zionist Shah shows that this is actually about support for Israel, not about helping ordinary Iranians.
How many of those Western political and media commentators now obsessed with the rights of women not to wear a hijab, with the rights of gays, and with the stopping of executions, are campaigning for the violent overthrow of their Saudi Arabian ally on precisely the same grounds?
How many of them support the installation of the al-Jolani regime in Damascus, which is actively and newly imposing the very things they claim to oppose in Iran?
Did you know that the number of women in the Syrian parliament has just fallen from 28 under Assad to 6 under al-Jolani?
Did you know that over half of university students in Iran are female? That in STEM subjects it is over 60%?
Did you know that approximately 15,000 Jews live in Iran? The community has been there 2,700 years and their rights and synagogues are protected. There is even a dedicated Jewish seat in Parliament.
I do not paint Iran as a paradise. I am not, personally, in favour of theocratic government anywhere. I respect people’s right to live according to religious observance if they so wish, but not the right to compel religious observance on those who do not wish it or to impose law on the grounds of divine ordination.
If you wish to live in a pure religious society, then enter a closed religious order or wait until you reach your Heaven.
I oppose theocracy in Israel, in Saudi Arabia, in Iran; equally. I deplore the Christian Zionist influence bringing effective theocracy to the United States. I deplore bishops in the House of Lords.
I have a great deal of respect for the teachings of Islam. But religious leaders should not have the command of worldly affairs anywhere, on the basis of institutional appointment. Those who wish to live their lives outside of religious guidelines should be free to do so.
In addition to which, Iran is as susceptible as the rest of the world to the misuse of power by individuals, to corruption and to abuse of office, to inequality and the abuse of power. I should like to see reform in Iran, as I should like to see reform everywhere, towards a freer and more equal society.
But that reform will not be obtained by a violent movement of protest that seizes on the economic suffering under sanctions to whip up people to murder and arson.
Israel is boasting that it is arming and organising protestors in Iran.
Again I do not view the Iranian government as blameless. If it had allowed more space for reasonable reformists to operate, for opposition figures to campaign, then you would not have a situation where the crowds are shouting the name of the sickening Zionist Pahlavi stooge, simply because it is the only “opposition” name they have heard.
It does seem the moment of greatest madness has passed. I do hope that the Iranian government reflects on opening more political space in the medium term.
But I have nothing but contempt for those in the West who have jumped on the anti-Iranian bandwagon.
Iran is the only remaining power in the Middle East that stood up against the genocide in Gaza. The Iranian sponsored resistance have been the only military opposition to the expansion of Greater Israel. Houthis aside, those resistance forces have been set back badly in the last two years, though not entirely defeated nor disbanded.
The installation of the Zionist puppet al-Jolani was a great boon for the expansion of Israel. They are now gunning for Iran itself.
Those in the West who pretend this is about human rights, and not about eliminating the last elements of physical resistance to Greater Israel, are sickeningly hypocritical.
Opposition to the government of Iran and support for its violent overthrow has become the new entry ticket to the Overton Window Show of British media and politics. It is the new “Do you condemn Hamas?”
Those who bow the knee before the latest ruse of Western Imperialist conquest, in the interests of maintaining their establishment respectability, should be treated with contempt.
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I am very disappointed by this Craig, because you have no idea what it is like to live in Iran at this present time or for the past 46 years. There is hyperinflation, people can barely afford foodstuffs, but that is OK, because the mullahs and IRGC can fill their bellies. Have you any idea what life is like for women in Iran or gay people? These protests are not a new thing, they also occurred in 2009, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022 and now. I have relatives in Iran and we haven’t spoken to them for ten days. As for seeing reform in Iran, that will not happen until the theocracy is gone, because democracy and freedom are not compatible with the Islamic regime.
Oh FFS – fight the sanctions or fight Saudi. don’t be a hypocrit loyal to Israel.
And cutting the internet has saved a lot of lives. You know why.
It’s almost as if you completely failed to read the article itself and just wanted your voice heard. Nice critical thinking dude.
If the theocracy were the primary concern of western powers, there are ways of changing its behaviour, by leveraging sanctions relief. Carrot and stick worked with the JCPOA; Iran were abiding by its provisions until Trump ripped the hard won agreement up at Netanyahu’s urging. Sanctions could be lifted in stages, in return for democratic and human rights improvements in the country, objectively assessed by the UN – this would help reformist voices in the country too.
But alas, this has nothing to do with concern for those things, like freedom and democracy, this is about removing any obstacle to Israel’s expansionist agenda in the region. That along with making sure Iran becomes, geopolitically speaking, western aligned: sticks to the petrodollar and shuns China on command of Washington.
“Have you any idea what life is like for women in Iran…?”
Of course he does. Have you?
Everybody in Iran has to wear “modest dress” in public, meaning long trousers and long sleeves. Women additionally have to wear a headscarf covering most of their hair. Some women choose to wear a “chador” (a one-piece black coverall that leaves their face fully visible) but they don’t have to. The rules apply to tourists as well as residents. It’s extremely rare to see a woman covering her face in Iran, as they do in Saudi Arabia (actually the only woman I ever saw in Iran wearing the face covering was at Teheran airport, clutching a green passport, which I believe is the colour of Saudi Arabian passports). Women can study at universities etc and many do, as Craig points out.
The headscarf rule is annoying and many younger women push the boundaries – headscarf covering most of their hair, etc.
@andyoldlabour
You may not have spoken to your Iran relatives for ten days, but that is not because of the protests or riots; but because of Iran having shut down all mobile and internet communication during that time. The only images available are from state TV picked up by remote receivers. All other purported video clips are most likely AI generated or old footage with time stamps removed.
Give it a rest Andy. All this BS about visiting Iran and being married to an iranian. Haven’t you any deeper insights instead of just repeating the western propaganda. If you’re such a f*ckin expert tell us something we don’t know, like our host attempts with his great analysis of events.
The great dissident ‘anti-imperialist’ Dr Cornel West is also parroting Pompeo narratives about Iran, similarly led around by his Iranian monarchist missus.
@Andy – There is nothing like hyperinflation in Iran. One reasonable definition is inflation of more than 50% per month.
You have to be aware Andy that because Iran stands against Israel and the Great Satan they’re seen as the God Guys and can therefore do no wrong. That your critics have to resort to ad hominem assaults tells you all you need to know.
Whilst inflation in Iran might not meet the accepted definition of being hyper, 40% in November 2025, 66% for food, wages have not kept up with increases, typically ranging from 3% to 9%.
https://worldsalaries.com/average-salary-in-iran/
Further pressure has come from the collapse in the currency which means the Iran Rial has much less purchasing power.
https://www.investing.com/analysis/inside-irans-economic-meltdown-currency-collapse-inflation-and-social-unrest-200673212
Sanctions can be blamed but Russia is subject to similar if not worse sanctions and yet we’re told their economy is booming. Russia grows fat on sanctions so what’s Iran doing wrong?
No western backed intervention or uprising has ever produced freedom and democracy, instead they replace a form of government with something worse. because that is the intention of the backers. There is no reason to think that this trouble in Iran is any different.
In terms of rival theocratic states it is going to take some time for Iran to catch up with Israel’s kill rate. The economic hardship they are experiencing in Iran is mostly the result of western sanctions, as you have managed to avoid any consideration of the effect of these I suppose you think they have had no effect at all. We must judge your analysis in terms of its lack of wisdom in this respect.
Yes – though I think you are exaggerating the size of the genuine element of the protests and have failed to notice the enormous pro-Governments demonstrations since.
This is HK or Belarus – never any intention that a small number could bring down a state, just the expectation that firing at Police from roof tops and in crowds would produce a retaliation that western media could exploit. And they did willingly comply with Intelligence expectations.
This was always a Psyop on the West not on Iran (where resistance to the West has hardened considerably in last week).
It was aimed at you and me, to make us complicit in a US lead war (for israel) on Iran.
It was aimed at Trump to convince he’d get popular support for such a war.
It failed for 2 reasons.
1. the violence was controlled just as soon as the internet was taken down.
2. The DoW knows full well that an attack on Iran might see a counterattack straight to the head – on Israel. This would be existential for Israel.
So Trump stood up to the deep state and called it off.
“The DoW knows full well that an attack on Iran might see a counterattack straight to the head – on Israel”. This is so true, in my opinion it might be existential for Israel, and for any of the Gulf Arabs who foolishly help US/Israel, their glittering glass towers and oil infrastructure would be easy pickings for the many, many short range missiles across the narrow Hormuz strait. As for Israel, Iran has said their cry of ‘Uncle’ to the US will not be heard until Iran has delivered existential damage. These blabbering threats from Clownus Maximus were only ‘just threats’ since China imports 85% of its oil from Iran, and Iran could easily close the Strait of Hormuz causing western economies to tank due to no oil. One good aspect for us Europeans reliant on Middle East oil, is we may all become Euro and pound sterling billionaires due to 1920’s German style hyperinflation, we will need Weimar Wheelbarrows for our local shopping.
“China imports 85% of its oil from Iran”
It doesn’t. You’ve misread the stats.
Thanks Neil, Iran exports 89% of its oil to China https://newdiplomatng.com/breaking-down-iran-oil/
That’s about right. China gets about 22% of its oil from Iran.
I have no idea what “DoW” means.
lysias, I think I remember you posting on Mondoweiss some years ago, that you have served in the ‘DoW’ of course it was not described as such then. One major problem for the US today is it is being run by a former ‘reality TV host’ Trump, and a former Fox hews anchor who is now the DoW [Department of War] Secretary Hegseth, What could possibly go wrong?
I suppose I should have had the imagination to realize what “DoW” meant, but I didn’t.
It is the former DoD 🙂
I have been reading – belatedly – Paul Fussell’s 1991 book “BAD: Or, the Dumbing of America”. While remarking on “BAD Language” – something which has since got even WORSE – he mentions the unpleasant euphemism of calling war “defence” (or “defense”).
It’s typical that Mr Trump has abruptly reversed the trend of many decades by renaming the “Department of Defense” the “Department of War”. Unfortunately Paul Fussell died in 2012, but if he were alive today, I wonder if he would be pleased or upset.
Did you know that over half of university students in Iran are female? That in STEM subjects it is over 60%?
Fine but a misogynistic regime still sees women as primarily homemakers so few find proper employment after they graduate.
http://mei.edu/publication/where-are-irans-working-women/
“http://mei.edu/publication/where-are-irans-working-women/”
Do give it up. A Washington-based think tank really doesn’t pass the Mandy Rice-Davies Test, does it?
Their main donors in 2025 were $1,312,500 – Embassy of the United Arab Emirates and $1,000,000 – Embassy of the State of Qatar. But, amazingly, RTX gave them $45K.
Playing the man not the ball as per usual. So much easier than actually challenging the data.
Numerous sources will tell you that Iran’s unemployment rate for women is twice that for men. Even Press TV:-
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/02/17/743002/Iran-unemployment-rate-fall-December-quarter-SCI-figures
or are they in the pockets of the US as well?
Corresponding figures for the UK are men 5.5%, women 4.6%.
So, Pears, is this good news or bad news? I hear when women work they do not have kids and the country has to welcome some poor sods from Africa and Afghanistan to sustain the economy.
Iran: fertility rate 2.07 in 2025.
UK: fertility rate 1.76 in 2025.
Source: Macrotrends.
Many women work and manage to raise a family but I fear Macrotrends have got it wrong. Iran’s fertility rate has been falling for years and is a matter of some concern. Currently it’s recorded at 1.44.
https://www.meforum.org/mef-observer/irans-seemingly-unstoppable-birth-slump
Infant mortality also has to be taken into account. In Iran it’s 10.7 per 1,000 live births, the UK figure is 3.9…
“Infant mortality also has to be taken into account. In Iran it’s 10.7 per 1,000 live births, the UK figure is 3.9…”
Do you think that US and NATO “sanctions” have made that better or worse?
PM: “… I fear Macrotrends have got it wrong. Iran’s fertility rate has been falling for years and is a matter of some concern. Currently it’s recorded at 1.44.”
Indeed, Macrotrends appears to have got it wrong, as you say.
But – pressed for time, no doubt – you forgot to look at the actual rate for the UK! There, it’s … err…. 1.41 .
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/aug/27/england-and-wales-fertility-rate-falls-for-third-consecutive-year
Doubtless you’ll be keen to revise whatever point you thought you were making, in the light of the UK having an even lower fertility rate than Iran?
Maybe so but what does this actualy mean? That Iran is westernized?
Iran has suicide rate of 4.27 per 100,000; UK has 11.1. Are Iranians happier than the British?
“Playing the man not the ball as per usual. So much easier than actually challenging the data.”
With what am I supposed to challenge it? We could both play the game of “my sources tell the truth, but your sources are liars” until we are blue in the face. You seem to be resistant to accepting the idea that if you can’t trust everything a source says, you can’t trust anything. That is, unless you have some sure-fire method of disentangling the truth from the lies that isn’t just that the truth is what you want to hear and the lies are what you don’t want to hear.
Short of our own first hand personal experience of that of someone we trust, i.e. someone who has never lied to us on any great matter, there are not good sources. All sources are bad. The only razor we can wield, is, given who is saying this, is it likely it is the truth, what I call the Mandy Rice-Davies Test. For instance, concerning the Ukraine war, a report from the Russian MoD that their troops are advancing on all fronts would fail this test, but a report from an AFU officer saying the same thing is much more likely to be true. That is why it’s not “Playing the man not the ball” to check what the likely motivations are for any publishing anything on the internet, or if it is, it’s because there is no ball.
Source criticism is not “Playing the man not the ball as per usual.” In historical studies it’s a standard approach: is your source reliable? Usually a big issue. So why not today?
Pears, you are absolutely correct, which is why the young people who can, try to get a Green card to go to the US or settle down in Europe. There are only 14 women out of the 290 seats held in the Majlis – Iranian parliament. No woman has ever stood in the presidential elections or sat on the assembly of experts. It is quite ironic, that the same Hamas supporters on here, do not give a toss about tens of thousands of Iranians being slaughtered by their own government. I see Netanyahu’s Israeli government and the Israeli regime, as two different heads of the Hydra. The Hydra can only be destroyed by cutting off all the heads.
“I see Netanyahu’s Israeli government and the Israeli regime, as two different heads of the Hydra. The Hydra can only be destroyed by cutting off all the heads”.
Whoops! Freudian slip, perchance?
And do you really suggest that the Iranian government has killed as many people as the Zionists have by bombing residential districts, bringing whole blocks crashing down in dust and ruin?
There is a large difference between violence used to restore order and violence used to commit genocide.
So you think that seeing women as primarily homemakers is “misogynistic”, do you, Mr Morgaine?
That is a role they have carried out with great success for millennia, but presumably you think it’s time for a change.
So how should it be done? Should half of men give up their jobs and share the “homemaking”? (If so, how good do you think they’ll be at it?) Or do you perhaps feel that “homemaking” is obsolete and shouldn’t be done any more at all? That would be reasonable if you are one of those who disapprove of marriage or permanent heterosexual relationships of any kind.
I think you will find that Islam tends to encourage women to be “homemakers”. Of course if you disapprove of Islam altogether, you are being consistent. But that’s an awful lot of Muslims you are disagreeing with. Do you think they are all wrong?
“Fine but a misogynistic regime still sees women as primarily homemakers so few find proper employment after they graduate.”
Are you suggesting that Iran has unfilled jobs because all the suitably qualified men are already employed and all the suitably qualified women are being “homemakers”, or do you think that Iran, like the UK, simply has more graduates than there are jobs for them to do that need a graduate to do them. Given the latter, some graduates have to be unemployed. At the same time a large proportion of the population need to be homemakers, unless the birthrate is going to dwindle to nothing or all children spend most of their early lives in institutions where one person can look after multiple children. So what is the better solution, have those unneeded graduates who want to stay at home and look after the kids, which is mainly women, and those who want to go out to work and earn money, mainly men do the things they want to do, or is it better to have some mandated sex equality so that many men are unwillingly looking after children when they would rather be working and many women are unwillingly working when they would rather be with their children?
That’s not to mention the patriarchal condescension in that remark which implies that bringing up the next generation of humans is neither a valuable nor a desirable occupation, but is just a sort of sink occupation, one better than doing nothing at all.
I agree entirely with every word of this.
I knew about the high percentage of women in Iran who are studying sciences.
Well said Craig.
Well said Craig, yip I’m not a fan of any religion let alone a theocracy – and its the severe sanctions that are hurting the ordinary folk of Iran, Israel wants Iran neutralised, and it wants the US and its West Asian minions to do it, along with CIA sponsored Kurdish fighters infiltrating Iran via Iraq.
Sanction are war by other means – eagerly applied by the US ad the EU, and of course Britain – the people of Iran should decide what type of government they want, to govern them – and not some CIA installed puppet as is happening in Argentina.
Anyone remember when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave a Channel 4 “Alternative Christmas message” in 2008, where he basically said “Merry Xmas” to the British, and the howls of anguished, righteous indignation it produced from the morality police in the UK?
Thanks Craig, a most apposite article. I have no experience of conditions in Iran, but I have lived and worked in Libya, which, before its savage and wanton destruction in 2011 by the usual gang of NATO thugs, was a functioning secular state with no poverty, no street crime, free medical services, free education to university level, equal numbers of male and female university students, freedom for women to dress how they wanted, and a committment to help other African countries improve their standards of living. From 2011 it became little more than a springboard for would-be migrants trying to reach Europe and a logistics hub supplying Islamist extremists in West Africa.
Oil producing states such as Iran which tries to have independent local and foreign polices different to US/Israel objectives will not be tolerated. The latest pro Iranian government protests estimated at 3 million were described by the BBC as numbering in their thousands.
This is why Trump back-pedalled to the chagrin of the chosen ones. The danger is not over, the US/Israel want Iran to cease uranium enrichment entirely, Iran refuses saying all states have the right to enrich uranium up to 2.5% for peaceful purposes, just as importantly US/Israel want Iran to stop production of missiles and not use proxies against Israel, they would, wouldn’t they, these are also none starters. Buckle up.
Professor Michael Hudson thinks oil is a major US factor in US aggression he mentions these countries….
“Iran (1953), Iraq (2003), Libya (2011), Russia (2022), Syria (2024), and now Venezuela (2026). The common denominator underlying the U.S. attacks and economic sanctions against all these countries is America’s weaponization of the world’s oil trade. Control over oil is one of its key methods for achieving unipolar control over the world’s broad trade and dollarized financial arrangements.
An overarching feature of U.S. national security policy is its power to block other countries from protecting and acting in their own security and economic interests. This asymmetry has been built into the world economy since the end of World War II, when the United States had enormous economic support to offer Europe’s war-torn economies. But today’s American power to coerce is backed mainly by its threats to cause injury and chaos by creating and exploiting choke points or, as a last resort, bombing weaker countries to force their compliance. This destructive leverage is the only policy tool left to a U.S. economy that has deindustrialized and fallen into foreign debt of a magnitude that now threatens to end the dollar’s dominant and lucrative monetary role”. https://mronline.org/2026/01/15/venezuelas-oil-seizure/
I agree with your view that the US focus is on energy (and other related commodities and technologies). Part of that might be an anticipation of the energy requirements of future datacentres? Another aspect I keep thinking about is the domestic availability of US fossil fuel feedstocks. Much of the US foreign policy rampage is co-temporal with increased production of fracked oil and gas. But fracking as a technique is only really cost-effective as a recovery method for declining wells. It’s been used for that purpose for decades by companies like Schlumberger. But it’s messy and each well has a built-in expiration date. US total reserves are unimpressive and Canadian tarsand is less cost-effective than VZ heavy. Perhaps the US must seize and control foreign energy sources before the office party lights go out?
War is for the oil needed as fuel,
Oil is the fuel needed for war…
The four-stroke infernal combustion cycle:
Invasion, Extraction, Emissions, Depletion…
As Jacques Baud points out in his “Governing by Fake News” there have been so many lies told about Iran, which US, Israel. UK and Europe have used and are currently using to revert the country to its pre – 1979 harsh repressive rule, that invalidate any rational case for regime change. Iran’s mortal sin which has incurred the wrath of the great Hegemon and its paladins has been to stand up for the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people and oppose Israeli expansionism and its acts of genocide.
Spare a thought for Craig and Lindsay Foreman. They may have been unwise in entering Iran in the first place, with its paranoia against the UK (for good historical reasons, and similar motives to the US, namely OIL) but I hope they are released soon.
It’s quite possible to visit Iran, even now, and not be arrested. I always wonder how these people manage to get arrested, of course we are never given the full background and many then assume it must be because Iran is an evil dictatorship, that is until the facts leak out.
The other day Media Lens posted an article including the following facts:
“In the 1930s and 1940s, Britain was menaced by Nazi Germany, a major threat to be sure, but one which constituted a far lesser threat than that offered by the nuclear-armed US global superpower attacking tiny Venezuela. In response, the UK Emergency Powers (Defence) Act of 1939 granted the government the authority to rule by decree through Defence Regulations. As a result, British democracy was simply suspended. The general election scheduled for 1940 was cancelled and there were no local or general elections at all held between 1935 and 1945.
“Habeas Corpus was also suspended, with Defence Regulation 18B allowing the Home Secretary to intern people indefinitely without trial. Under Regulation 2D, the government could suppress newspapers without warning if they published material ‘calculated to foment opposition to the prosecution of the war.’ The Daily Worker newspaper, for example, was banned.
“BBC broadcasts were also vetted, with thousands of people employed to read private letters and telegraph messages. Even the spreading of ‘alarm or despondency’ became a criminal offence. People making pessimistic remarks about the war’s outcome in pubs or on street corners were prosecuted. The ‘Silent Column’ campaign encouraged citizens to report neighbours who engaged in ‘defeatist talk.’”
https://medialens.substack.com/p/venezuela-war-is-peace
The USA’s threat to Iran is far greater than to Venezuela (so far). In 1939, when “the Emergency Powers (Defence) Act granted the government the authority to rule by decree through Defence Regulations”, the “Phony War” meant that there were hardly any real hostilities. The first German bomb to fall in Britain was still over a year in the future.
Any government whose country is under serious threat of attack by a nuclear superpower obviously has to restrict civil liberties to prevent or minimise spying, sabotage, and subversion – activities which the West and Israel carry out almost continually.
To characterise the opposition in Iran as “a violent movement of protest that seizes on the economic suffering under sanctions to whip up people to murder and arson” is unfair.
The Iranian regime has no claim on the loyalty of Iranians, given that (like the Putin regime) they control the ballot paper, rejecting “Godless” candidates.
Yes, the late unlamented Shah’s son is sniffing around… looking for access to power. And yes, he has the approval of Israel and I think the US.
But none of the above detracts from the right of Iranians to overthrow a theocratic government.
Just as Palestinians have the right to overthrow the racist Israeli rule of Gaza and the West Bank.
Or the right of the British people to overthrow the Monarchy which unlike Iran exists without a written Constitution and which arguably gives them an even greater right if they were so disposed,
“But none of the above detracts from the right of Iranians to overthrow a theocratic government.
Just as Palestinians have the right to overthrow the racist Israeli rule of Gaza and the West Bank.”
The difference being that everything is being done by certain interested parties to assist the former, and everything is being done by the same interested parties to impede the latter?
JK Redux
In order to believe that Trump/Starmer /Netanyahu and all other Western leaders have the welfare of the Iranian people ( the same countries that made them poor via sanctions ) in their hearts takes a lot of belief and that just this once this Regime Change might be better than all the other past regime changes.
History is littered with well meaning Liberals and lefties who actually ended up cheering Western democracies on only to keep quiet when their pious wishes didn’t pan out like they thought they would.
It is up to the Iranians to change their country from within and not the province of an Orange Bluffer and his Kow -Towing European acolytes.
Iran is a capitalist nation and The President of Iran is pro capitalist and just because I’m a leftie and he’s a pro capitalist doesn’t mean I want the Iranians to be shorn of their right in the future ( should they so wish) to to have a reformist Government.
That is up to themselves.
I may not agree with that outcome but., that’s how politics works.
For good or for ill.
Palestinians have the right to remove the colonial occupation from all of Palestine, not just from Gaza and the West Bank.
If I protest in the UK, for example about deaths in police custody, of which there are many, it doesn’t follow that I am part of an attempt to overthrow the regime. Why should one assume that it is different in the case of Iran?
I have 2 female friends who have travelled around Iran. One went on a bus tour. The other dressed as a guy and hitch hiked with a female friend. The one who went on the bus tour visited modern cities, and met female scientists, professionals, and free and independent women. They wore make-up and their headscarves were small triangles allowing their hair to show. They were delighted to meet European women, who were for the most part, retired professionals, who were delighted to meet them too.
Okay, so they have pink taxis, driven by women for women, and any blatant or flagrant display of female charms does get the death penalty. But so much better educationally than Saudi, and infinitely better than Afghanistan in which the west abandoned its women to barbaric oppression.
Travelling on a shoestring in rural Iran my other friend met only kindness, and aided escape when the word got to law enforcement that foreigners were about. That is when I heard what the 1979 revolution was really about, and its hopes for western style democracy, liberty, and religious freedoms. The ayatollahs were presented as a power sharing compromise, which led to the arrests and deaths of the nascent parliamentarians who had supported the trades unions led revolution.
Like all regimes targeted for oil, it is socialist policies which are the green light for regime change.
No planes fly over Iran today. All non essential personnel are being urged to leave countries with US bases surrounding Iran. The Israeli airforce is on alert, though it did still find time today to obliterate a few villages in Lebanon.
This bodes ill for the region
Great insightful post – thank you.
Alyson, there are no flights leaving from Mehrabad in the centre of Tehran, but there are flights from IKA (Imam Khomeini) on the outskirts of Tehran. There are also flights overflying Iran, from UAE, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Belarus and Turkey, plus Najaf in Iraq.
You can clearly see that there are aircraft arriving and departing from Tehran’s largest airport today.
https://www.flightstats.com/v2/flight-tracker/departures/IKA
I am sure this would pass as “respectable opinion” if it happened in Iran. From Dr Aladwan’s X feed.
Dr Rahmeh Aladwan – NHS Doctor
“Today, I was arrested for the fourth time in less than three months. During interrogation, officers explicitly stated, ‘jews keep calling’ to report me. The Metropolitan Police have travelled from London, booked hotel stays, and arrested me on four separate dates: October 21, December 4, December 22, and today, January 15—for social media posts sharing news, opposing ‘Israel’ and expressing solidarity with Palestine. I have been released on bail, which now combines the restrictive conditions from all three prior arrests. I remain under a form of house arrest and prohibited from attending Palestine events in London. I am also not to post anything that could ‘stir up racial hatred’ or ‘express support for a proscribed organisation’—neither of which I have done. This is state-sponsored harassment and judicial terrorism, carried out by the British state in partnership with the UK ‘Israel’ lobby and also at the apparent behest of the jews who ‘keep calling’ the police, including the Anti-Terrorism Hotline, to silence me”.
Support Dr Aladwan
https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/help-me-fight-the-israel-lobby/
“I am also not to post anything that could ‘stir up racial hatred’ or ‘express support for a proscribed organisation’” – Those are unlawful activities anyway and any magistrate who puts them in bail conditions is a moron. Cf. “one of your bail conditions is that you don’t rob any banks”.
“This is, what is going on in Iran is, right from the US Israeli playbook on how to produce regime change.”
John Mearsheimer: Dismantling Iran, the four part strategy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZe1ujSljbw
It’s remarkable how obvious all this is, the same playbook repeated over and over, we all know the list of victims, yet so many people can’t or won’t see the pattern
“STEM” is an ideology, not an objective grouping of subjects.
Mathematics doesn’t belong in there and should be taught to a higher level at a younger age than “STEM” nuts and unthinking repeaters assume.
Mathematics is the underlying foundation of Science, Technology and Engineering- and in fact everything ! So, I agree you’re right, sort out mathematics competence and the rest is easy. Unfortunately, in my experience, UK STEM has been hijacked by the wokerati, there is more interest in diversity and the rest of the BS than there is in actual competence in the STEM areas. Merit takes second place to DIE. Another facet of the UK’s continuing decline.
I have never heard STEM referred to as “an ideology”. That doesn’t make sense. It is just an abbreviation of “Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics”. Rather a silly one, as “Technology” doesn’t belong there – it is covered by science and engineering, although foolish people often use it to mean “computers and stuff like that”.
The only thing about STEM that could be construed as remotely controversial is that Western countries have been falling behind so badly in those subjects. China, Russia, and… yes, Iran do far better. Their economies and armed forces reflect that.
@Tom – Yes you have heard it referred to as an ideology. You read my post, right? And it does make sense to refer to it like that. I outlined why in my second sentence. @Stevie understood me fine.
There was a big battle in Belgium over STEM-isation. Unfortunately the STEM loons won. The good side was inspired by figures who included Georges Cuisenaire and Caleb Cattegno. The battle was principally about how to teach mathematics to youngsters. (Few who are well informed on that topic are ignorant of the names I just mentioned.) STEM is an especially vile line on this. Mathematics is, as @Stevie rightly says, foundational.
@Tom – See Dirk De Bock and Geert Vanpaemel, Rods, Sets and Arrows: The Rise and Fall of Modern Mathematics in Belgium for some perspective on STEM more advanced than saying it’s only an abbreviation.
” Yes you have heard it referred to as an ideology. You read my post, right? And it does make sense to refer to it like that.”
It makes a lot more sense to refer to it as a political craze, like having 50% of students go into tertiary education.
“The only thing about STEM that could be construed as remotely controversial is that Western countries have been falling behind so badly in those subjects. China, Russia, and… yes, Iran do far better. Their economies and armed forces reflect that.”
There is no use pushing students into the sciences, engineering or maths as a international willy-waving exercise. A country only needs so many graduates in those subjects and in the deindustrialising West, that is not many. In addition, there is little point in having students who do not have a genuine interest in those subjects taking a degree in them. All that will achieve is a lot of second-rate graduates who will be more interested in getting a well paid job in the FIRE sector. If someone has an interest in S(T)EM subjects, then a degree in those subjects will be useful in later life, whether of not they end up employed in that sector, but such people do not form a large part of degree-level entrants to tertiary education.
“A country only needs so many graduates in those subjects and in the deindustrialising West, that is not many”.
Circular.
Well said Craig.
Britain’s politicians and journalists deserve endless contempt.
For over two years they have maintained a scrupulous silence on British participation in genocide and could not be more aware of Britain’s support for the world’s most repressive regimes.
Saudi Arabia is probably the most obvious counterpoint to their fake outrage about Iran.
But Saudi is just one of the many repressive regimes Britain helps to prop up.
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-03-11-britain-backs-most-of-the-worlds-repressive-regimes-new-analysis-shows/
In the vicinity of Iran alone, Britain sells arms, provides security training and has troops deployed in other Gulf regimes like Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the UAE, as well as Somaliland, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon etc.
As you know to your professional cost, Britain’s support for the worst human rights abusers extends far beyond the Middle East. The list is very long.
Any citizen in these British client states who opposes authoritarian rule — whether political activists, human rights advocates or journalists — is vulnerable to being killed, kidnapped or sentenced to jail.
The treatment of women in many of these states is far worse than what the imperialists claim to be horrified by in Iran.
This has been very well known for years by our politicians and journalists. The public are kept in the dark and sold opposite fake narratives. What is new is this direct British participation in the merciless slaughter of the most vulnerable population on earth. That too has been kept suppressed, as evidenced by how many remain convinced Britain is one of the world’s Good Guys.
The more these ghoulish politicians and journalists reveal themselves as demons the louder they scream about human rights and authoritarianism in very select disobedient countries.
What more would they need to do to earn the contempt of their dwindling band of supporters?
“… Israel is boasting that it is arming and organising protestors in Iran …”
I think people will find this article by two Israeli reporters at Pro Publica very intriguing reading which supports Craig Murray’s statement:
Israel Secretly Recruited Iranian Dissidents to Attack Their Country From Within
Excerpts from the article:
“… [Former Mossad director Meir Dagan] took pride in the Mossad’s growing ability to recruit Iranians and others for covert operations inside Iran.
One key to the spy agency’s success is the ethnic composition of Iran. Israeli officials noted in interviews that roughly 40% of the country’s population of 90 million is made up of ethnic minorities: Arabs, Azeris, Baluchis, Kurds and others.
Shortly before he died in 2016, Dagan told us that “the best pool for recruiting agents inside Iran lies within the country’s ethnic and human mosaic. Many of them oppose the regime. Some even hate it.”
Present and former officials said Dagan championed the shift to relying on foreign-born agents. In the early years of the effort to penetrate Iran, the spy agency had relied mostly on Israelis, known to Mossad insiders as “blue and white” — a reference to the colors of Israel’s flag.
Under Dagan, the Mossad’s leadership came to believe they could find highly effective agents in Iran or among Iranian exiles and others living in one of the seven countries that border it.
Present and former officials said the recruits fell into two categories. Some gravitated to the realm of traditional espionage, gathering intelligence and passing it on to their handler. Others expressed a willingness to carry out violent operations, including attacks on nuclear scientists.
Not surprisingly, given the risk of summary execution, many had initial doubts.
“Convincing someone to betray their country is no small feat,” said a former senior Mossad officer who oversaw units handling foreign agents. “It’s a process of gradual erosion. You start with a minor request, an insignificant task. Then another. These are trial runs. If they perform well, you assign them something larger, more meaningful. And if they refuse — well, by then you have leverage: pressure, threats, even blackmail.”
Spymasters, he said, try to avoid threats or coercion. “It’s better to guide them to a place where they act willingly — where they take the first step themselves,” the former officer said.
The most critical element is trust. “Your agent must be loyal and emotionally tied to you. Like a soldier who charges forward despite the danger, trusting his comrades, so it is with agents. He goes on the mission because he trusts his handler and feels a deep sense of responsibility toward him.”
Most of the people who agreed to work for Israel expected payment for the risks they were taking. But the present and former officials said the driving force for people who agree to spy on their own country is often more primal.
“Financial reward is, of course, important,” the former Mossad officer said. “But people are also driven by emotion — hatred, love, dependence, revenge. Yet it always helps when the recruit’s motives are supported by some kind of tangible benefit: not necessarily a direct payment but some type of indirect help.”
This is how S.T. was recruited.
His handlers said he was consumed by hatred toward the regime and what had been done to him by the Basij militia. But what finally pushed him to cooperate was the Mossad’s offer to arrange medical treatment unavailable in Iran for a relative.
For decades, medical care has been one of the Mossad’s signature recruitment methods. Israeli intelligence has links with doctors and clinics in several countries, and arranging surgery and various therapies was also used to penetrate Palestinian extremist groups. It has featured even more in approaches to Iranians, in the hope of persuading them to help Israel.
The Mossad also uses the internet to attract agents, creating websites and publishing social media posts aimed at Iranians that offer to help people suffering from life-threatening illnesses such as cancer. These posts include phone numbers or encrypted contact options.
Israeli intelligence can mobilize its international network to find trusted doctors or clinics — places that won’t ask too many questions. The Mossad typically pays the bills directly and discreetly.
Another incentive used to entice potential spies is higher education in a foreign country. Based on years of research and experience, Mossad recruiters know that Iranians crave access to quality education. Even the fundamentalist religious regime of the current supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, encourages academic advancement. This makes offers of placement in Western universities, or boarding schools for teenagers, an especially compelling tool …”
There’s a fair amount to read but this is to emphasise that Mossad takes advantage of the poverty and other restrictions created by Western sanctions against Iran and of the Iranian government’s authoritarian style of rule and infiltrates Iranian society to identify its weak points and vulnerabilities, and manipulate people’s desperation.
What happens to people once they are found to have betrayed Iran is unpleasant but don’t expect Mossad to even think about trying to rescue them or their relatives.
Divide and rule, works every time.
We even have the same techniques being applied in the UK. Whilst we all fight over immigration, trans rights, the right and the left, etc. Mossad and the CIA are installing their stooges in our government. We are no longer governed by people who have our or our country’s interests as a priority. It’s more obvious in the ME but it’s also happening here.
SB
It’s not the intel agencies shaping everything – though they do need to be brought under better political scrutiny / oversight by our elected representatives. It’s more the western financial system and the trillions of £$€ riding on it continuing in its current form. It’s developed in such a way, I don’t think national sovereignty and truly free-functioning political parties and organic politics, as experienced by our ancestors as recently as the mid-late 20th century, is coming back. Not short of some sort of worldwide cataclysm .
Jen: The article you link to would make a good thriller novel. Too bad that Frederick Forsyth is gone. However David McCloskey’s forthcoming novel The Persian should contain much of the story in a fictionalised way. I plan to wait for the paperback. Does anyone know of other thrillers on this subject?
Mossad and the US wouldn’t have such successes as the work leading up to and including Op Midnight Hammer on Iran’s nuclear facilities, if Iranians were content with their regime. I remember what an Iranian told me over 30 years ago (though I’ve long since forgotten his name), that they saw Islam as a way to get rid of the Shah, but now they called their revolution the ‘Big Mistake.’ Too late, and their children and further generations have to endure the consequences, as in North Korea (see the book The Accusation by Bandi).
“Mossad and the US wouldn’t have such successes as the work leading up to and including Op Midnight Hammer on Iran’s nuclear facilities, if Iranians were content with their regime.
“Perhaps you could name me a Western country where all the inhabitants are “content with the regime” or even a majority.
My thoughts exactly Craig. The MSM and their propagandists always claim that whenever you oppose an illegal attempt by outside forces to overthrow a government that opposes the Western agenda, you are a ‘Khameni apologist’, or an ‘Assad apologist’ or whatever. Upholding international law does not imply unquestioned support for the regime in question, but we can all see that regime change operations led by the Western powers have never led to better conditions for the ordinary people. Just look at Libya, or Syria, or anywhere else it has been tried. This latest destabilisation effort is all about the Zionists and their murderous agenda in the Middle East.
” If it had allowed more space for reasonable reformists to operate, for opposition figures to campaign, then you would not have a situation where the crowds are shouting the name of the sickening Zionist Pahlavi stooge, simply because it is the only “opposition” name they have heard”
Enter – as ever and always – that great mouthpiece of the Anglo-American-Zionist Establishment – The propaganda wing of the Brit State Foreign Office – the ever (un)reliable BBC:
And so, on Thursday 8th January, when the Mossad/CIA fomented ‘riots’ and murders were at their height the always reliable ‘academic’ Prof Ali Ansari of St Andrews University (with Kings College London one of two major CIA outposts in the UK) is wheeled out on the BBC’s flagship ‘news’ analysis programme ‘Newsnight’ to explain to us all what is going on.
Ansari is always presented by the BBC as a ‘disinterested academic expert’ – and here his appearance followed some disgracefully biased ‘reporting’ and editorialising dressed up as reportage.
The BBC did all this without once mentioning that Ansari is a close member of the Pahlavi family of the deposed Shah, and cousin of his proposed Zionist successor, Reza, the Shah’s son- both imperialist American puppets – the father installed following the MI6/CIA orchestrated coup against the democratically elected Mohammad Mosaddegh – who had the temerity to nationalise the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (later BP).
See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_M._Ansari
“Ansari is the son of Mariam Dariabegi and Mohammad Ali Massoud Ansari [fa], cousin of Farah Pahlavi. He married Marjon Esfandiary in 2010, after which he had a celebration held at Chatham House.”
And so, as part of the Psyops component of the attempterd regime change, the British state broadcaster is once again presenting propaganda as ‘news’ – playing in full its allotted constitutional role
At first when this kicked off I rather thought the UK media were downplaying the protests (or riots if you prefer) and were being somewhat respectful towards the Islamic Republic and talking up it’s ability to pull through yet again.
This may have changed now that a possible US/Israeli regime change operation really is on the cards and which will have to be presented in the best possible light to the punters.
Often there’s a second order thing going on, in which profits are made from boosting (or reducing) the uncertainty or “volatility”.
Indeed there can even be a third-order thing.
Expectations, and opinions about other people’s expectations and probability assessments and how they will move, are subject to deliberate influence, including in the short and very short term. Ker-ching!
Those who think this is fantasy should bear in mind the sheer size of derivatives markets.
I’m done with you Craig.
I’ve often disagreed with you but kept reading cos you’re intelligent and know a lot about some things.
But your obsessive hatred of Israel has led you to conclude that any regime, however vile, deserves support if only they oppose Israel.
You are thus the mirror image of Trump and Starmer, equally amoral and equally irrational.
What would you do if Trump and Netanyahu came out in support of Scottish independence I wonder?
Pete
You are misrepresenting what CM said. The Pahlavi regime, should it illegitimately come to power, plans to give up that country’s sovereignty within the first three-months.
Look at this document(link below) Reza’s team produced last year; it commits to week one recognition of Israel, then no actions without coordination with Israel. This is the sort of thing a nation defeated in war would have to agree to. It’s worse than the Lebanese capitulation, that sees Israel bombing the south, supposedly attacking Hezbollah remnants – as it so chooses – with the full blessing of Beirut.
https://x.com/History__Speaks/status/2011937878067310737/photo/1
VERY GOOD POINT someone made on [X].
Reza Pahlavi is insisting to western media, he wishes only to be a transitional leader leading a temporary govt, until a referendum takes place (within 4 months) on establishing a constitutional monarchy or parliamentary republic. I think we know, if any vote were to take place it’d probably be about as legit as Syria’s recent sham elections.
As a poster points out, in reply to a journo who interviewed Pahlavi:
“If he’s only transitional what gives him the right to recognize Israel and dismantle the nuclear program on day one as he promised? Maybe try to be a journalist for once and ask questions.”
Couldn’t you maybe engage with the arguments, instead of making presumptions and insults?
I didn’t read that the Iranian government – sorry, regime – “deserves support”. Could you point out where that’s being called for in this article? I did read in it that sanctions should be lifted, but for the sake of the people rather than than the leadership – sorry, regime.
You didn’t make that up for effect, surely? Or are you genuinely confused?
The “mirror image” of Trump, at any rate, would be threatening and invading a number of countries – even those of Official Friends. Do you see CM suggesting that? For that matter, can you think of any country Iran has invaded or made unprovoked threats to in the past few hundred years?
I am always somewhat sceptical when a face I have never seen before pops up and claims to be a dedicated supporter so disgusted by an argument they are leaving. Anyway, cheerio.
“Israel” represents the proceeds of one of the greatest crimes in history. The Zionists have not (yet) killed as many people as the Huns, the Mongols, or the European colonists around the world. But they are doing their absolute best.
If “Israel” is a legitimate nation, the UN and all its most powerful and influential members have abandoned the rule of law and reject common decency.
It really is very simple. It is wrong to break into someone else’s country, steal the land, the infrastructure, the agricultural economy, and everything else, while killing anyone who resists or even complains.
That is wrong. How many times does it have to be said?
Tom,
I agree with you on this – but let’s not forget that The Zionists are largely “European colonists” themselves – whether arriving from Europe, America, South Africa or Australia.
Genetic studies indicate that most of European Jews (the bulk of the colonists) are descended from Khazars who converted to Judaism in the 8th/9th centuries – and their Khazar/Slavic descendants.
This makes nonsense of the “Right of Return” (even if you don’t regard such a ‘right’ as de facto absurd). If such a right exists for European Jewry, it applies, not to Palestine (which already belongs to someone), but to Central Asia and the Pontic-Caspian steppe – modern day Russia and Ukraine and adjacent countries, including Poland – where funnily enough, a large number came from, including Netanyahu (real name Mileikowsky).
It’s worth recalling that the zionists are and always have been the biggest instigators of false flag attacks against Jews. The objective of these attacks is to make all Jews living outside of Israel feel threatened and at risk of harm. Hence the ‘right of return’. Antisemitism is another tool to destabilise any Jew that might be comfortable or happy living outside Israel, that is why zionists are always pushing Antisemitism, that is why zionists are always pushing the ‘holocaust’ ™. A happy, non Israeli Jew is obviously an antisemite.
‘I agree with you on this – but let’s not forget that The Zionists are largely “European colonists” themselves – whether arriving from Europe, America, South Africa or Australia’.
Oh, I was fully aware of that, John. And if you reread my comment you may notice that I did not deny it. The Zionist invasion and colonisation of Palestine is all the worse because it happened after WW2, after the foundation of the UN, and long after it was generally agreed that colonialism was utterly unacceptable.
Thanks Tom,
I was not disagreeing with any of your points.
I know from what you wrote that you are aware of this – but I just thought it worth expanding it a bit.
What I might have added, is that for the reason cited, genetic testing is strictly controlled (effectively banned) in occupied Palestine. It would dissolve much of the basis claimed to justify their theft of somebody else’s country.
It is also worth stating that genetic profiling of bronze-age remains in tombs dating to biblical Palestine, indicates (unsurprisingly) a close similarity to the DNA of present day Palestinians. They were always there – they never left. They just converted from Judaism to Islam and Christianity.
Where have you popped up from, Pete? Please direct us to any other comments on Craig’s work that you have made which support your suggestion that you have been following his work for a long time.
There are always pop-up commentators when things are heating up – and when people like Craig call out the bad-actors by virtue of superior knowledge, better information, and good humanitarian instincts. It is always suspicious when they do so.
Pete
Stating facts and addressing larger context of crimes and inquiring the conditions under which they occur has nothing to do with obsessive hatred. That´s called research or scholarship.
And playing off Iran against Israel will help neither Palestinians or decent Israeli citizens, nor Iranians who yearn for more personal freedom. (Think Gideon Levy can walk around town unmolested?)
Last but not least almost everything we know about Israeli criminal conduct is sourced with Israeli outlets like Haaretz or +972.
So almost everything Craig does is quote information that came from Israel. Including the comments confirming Israeli covert operations in Iran.
On the nature of latter:
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2026/01/iran-the-ragtag-network-of-activists-run-by-the-state-department.html
Which doesn´t mean there are no genuine protesters. But those dont walk around with Starlink.
“On Iran’s protests, Israeli hypocrisy knows no limits
Only moments ago, Israelis were cheering on a holocaust in Gaza — and now they dare to celebrate the valiant uprising of the Iranian people.”
By Orly Noy
January 16, 2026
https://www.972mag.com/iran-protests-israeli-hypocrisy-gaza/
q.e.d.
Mr Murray is not Corbyn, he is honest enough to call out the genocidal monsters that are Israel. IMO There is nothing good or salvageable from the zionist enterprise, as such it needs to be destroyed. If one hates genocide then logically one is obliged to hate Israel. What is good about Israel ? Israel is a homeland for zionists, pedophiles and psychopaths it certainly isn’t a homeland for Jews because most Jews didn’t want or ask for an Israel.
Hatred of Israel and opposing a zionist takeover of Iran the final straw.
I agree Pete, this article by Craig is an absolute shocker, particularly to those of us (unlike the majority of people on here), who have relatives in Iran and know of family members who have been imprisoned and executed by the regime, because of their political views.
From one year ago, Dec. 2024:
An English-language interview about the history of Iran with Ervand Abrahamian by German alternative news site NACHDENKSEITEN and Michael Holmes.
I have not yet listened to it myself. So I can´t comment.
But maybe it´s interesting to some here.
97 min.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtuKDxZi5EI&t=49s
p.s. Vijay Prashad briefly on the history of the Iranian situation:
“Six points to navigate the turmoil in Iran”
Jan. 13th
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2026/01/13/six-points-to-navigate-the-turmoil-in-iran/
I do not support the idea of theocratic states either. The supporters of Palestine should have a new flag to wave that asserts the realities of the land theft of Israel, not this 1967 borders travesty, i.e. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1949_Armistice_Agreements#/media/File:1947-UN-Partition-Plan-1949-Armistice-Comparison.svg
pilpul, the question that matters is whether the citizens of Iran support the idea of a theocratic state. As far as I can make out, that is really the logical outcome when a nation’s people are nearly 100% Muslim. Muslims believe that the Koran is the word of God and no other laws or guidance are needed for people to live a decent and moral life. Hence the “theocracy”. It is certainly imperfect, but so is everything in this world. If the Iranian people really found it unacceptable, they could find ways of overthrowing it themselves.
It seems wrong for Westerners – many of them atheists, agnostics, Christians, religious Jews, etc. – to lecture Iranians on how to run their country. Let alone to try forcing other ways down their throats by extreme violence or the threat of it.
Iran was a mighty empire and a glorious culture when the Americas were inhabited by Native Americans only, and Europeans mostly lived poor and squalid lives in villages and hamlets. Iran defeated the power of Rome several times over the centuries. Its people deserve respect.
“Muslims believe that the Koran is the word of God and no other laws or guidance are needed for people to live a decent and moral life. ”
Ah, but they are wrong to believe that and it behoves us to tell them so and make them see the light of the Better way.
Of course, the theocrats are only interpreting the Koran, a different bunch will have a different interpretation. So, it’s not the so called holy books, it’s the men (yes they are all men) who are making up the rules. Go figure.
“Muslims believe that the Koran is the word of God and no other laws or guidance are needed for people to live a decent and moral life. ”
Yes, the Qur’an is the word of God, and No, it is not true that “no other laws or guidance are needed”. That is why Sunnis are called Sunnis; they believe that the Sunna of the Prophet is a valid secondary source. The Sunna is the habits and sayings of the Prophet, as reported by his Companions. Very important for belief.
I won’t go further into the complexities of the Shi’a and others.
Pro-Zionist Reza Pahlavi has a way to go before he reaches the level of USA-slurping that Maria Machado has achieved by giving her Nobel Peace Prize medal to Donald Trump. She is a strong contender for the “How I made the whole world vomit” prize. Trump of course is beyond shame.
How vain is Trump for accepting it though?
As for Machado, anyone who welcomes military attacks on their own country, or crippling sanctions on a population struggling with hardship, is wholly unworthy of domestic political support, or international recognition, imho.
Cowardly of the Nobel Committee not to give it to the far more worthy Francesca Albanese. Unjustly sanctioned, for doing her job with some integrity, in a world with none.
Trump also took ownership of a luxury 747 plane from Qatar too, worth an estimated cool $400 million. A POTUS operating like he’s running a family business.
“Cowardly of the Nobel Committee not to give it to the far more worthy Francesca Albanese”.
Very true, but beside the point. I suspect that cowardice had less to do with it than money – the great solvent of morals.
And after all, the Nobel Peace Prize is worse than worthless. None of the Nobel Prizes mean much – those who have won the prizes for real work such as physics don’t always value them as much as the respect of their colleagues.
Machado: Evil or stupid ?
Stevie Boy
I believe she comes from a rich family.
Can’t be for the money surely – so it must be for a principled reason.
Sell out the Venezuelans – let the US steal Venezuelans riches and then
get a nice little skim off to add to her already richness.
In a roundabout way Yeltsin in Russia stashed about 5 billion dollars all
for himself using those similar principles.
Is there a Nobel peace prize for Groveller of the Year?
She surely would win it hand’s down.
Machado’s actions in giving her Nobel Peace Prize medal to Trump smack of trying to inveigle him into offering her the Venezuelan Presidency or at least a senior position in a future pro-US / pro-Israeli Venezuelan government, regardless of the actual reality on the ground (in which she has zero support among the Venezuelan electorate and has no plan or strategy on how she and her fellow opposition colleagues would govern).
Bravo, Craig. There will be elements on the left who so despise the current government of Iran that they are willing to see the country destroyed and its people put to the sword. I seldom cite “morality” as a driving force behind my opinions, having in mind Dr. Johnson’s reflections on “patriotism”. But refusing to back Iran in its hour of utmost peril is a morally repugnant position. Such a perspective would have accepted, perhaps even welcomed, a Nazi victory in the Second World War for having eliminated Stalin and his henchmen. What followed would be of little concern.
Again, thanks for your clear, sharp statement today, and best of luck in the Scottish Court case.
Funnily enough, there’s plenty of evidence that the western allies would have welcomed a nazi victory. The failure of that outcome led to the cold war and eventually the Ukraine war. The nazi zionists still pursue their evil agenda.
Your western liberal values are showing again, Craig.
Respected and intelligent Iranians have opined that actually, the legitimately aggrieved faction of the protesters are protesting against Pezeshkian’s dysfunctional reformist policies, wanting more hardline-ism. In my personal opinion, the IRI is not to be faulted for the economic woes, and the blame for those falls solely on the Western sanctions.
> I oppose theocracy in Israel, in Saudi Arabia, in Iran; equally. I deplore the Christian Zionist influence bringing effective theocracy to the United States. I deplore bishops in the House of Lords.
> I have a great deal of respect for the teachings of Islam. But religious leaders should not have the command of worldly affairs anywhere, on the basis of institutional appointment. Those who wish to live their lives outside of religious guidelines should be free to do so.
With all due respect, Craig, nobody really cares if you oppose theocracy. I think that has more of a relevance and consequence concerning your views on the House of Lords than any of the others, but whether or not you deplore the Ayatollah’s leadership and the IRI’s constitutional order shouldn’t really enter into the equation. The Iranian people have chosen their path since 1979, and I daresay that they chose well.
If anything, Iran needs less Westward-concilliatory reformism, NOT more!
“The Iranian people have chosen their path since 1979, and I daresay that they chose well.”
It’s not exactly if they are spoilt for choice, the Western-oriented dictatorship which was imposed after they tried a non-Western-oriented democratically elected government was worse than they have now. There is nothing to indicate that a new non-Western-oriented democratically elected government would fare any better than the previous one, or that a new Western-oriented “democratically elected” government would be any improvement on the last Western-oriented government either.
Your quote “Those who wish to live their lives outside of religious guidelines should be free to do so.” is interesting. For those who believe that the law stems from their religion, it’s the same as saying that “Those who wish to live their lives outside of the law should be free to do so.”
Islam, like certain sects of Christianity in years past, is its own worst enemy.
Authoritarian, totalitarian, with a penchant for killing of those who do not subcribe to the theological diktat, of the state, it is no surprise that in a country like Iran, where economic stagnation and or decline is in play, that sections of the community rebel in the way tgat we have just seen. With moreover external influence where do people.
Force and fatwah begats force and resistance in return. The Ayatollah and others of the same autocratic persuasion may feel entitled to hang some mother’s son by the neck but rarely does this del8ver a long lasting society. An eye for an eye, such killing only reinforces the sentiment that maybe the Ayatollah should publicly be hung. That indeed is how Mussolini ended his days 9n a lamp post.
And make no mistake, the gun toting ICE agent that pumped three bullets into an innocent woman in Minnesotta will without a shadow of a doubt stiffen resolve against the federal government. Indeed, with President Trump now seeking to invoke the 1807 Insurrection Act to allow the deployment of US military into certain states where the National Guard and federal agencies are already deployed, you do have to wonder where the US is headed. The UK cerainly understands only too well with its experience of Northern Ireland just how bad things can go.
Indeed, a comment reported to have been made after an IRA attempt to kill prime minister Thatcher was to the effect that she was lucky that day, that they were unlucky that day, but that Thatcher needed to be lucky every day. Violence begats violence, and like Ma4garet Thacher was lucky, so has been President Trump.
All in all, so profoundly depressing. Who know what will happen in Iran but equally who knows what will happen in the USA. The penchant for chaos seems, on present trajectory, to be the way forward. And we in the UK, as we rush to arms as our living standards decline, will it seems just have to wait to see where we end up.
But at least here in the UK we have God on our side, don’t we?
Unfortunately, referring to ‘The Troubles’ as an analogy of what is happening with Iran is troublesome. Particularly when one considers the role of the British state and it’s security forces.
Donald Trumps spiritual adviser Pastor Paula White once compared Trump to God, to all those unbelievers on this blog, take a gander at her preaching to her flock. She is crazier than Trump. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DlRueGU1AU
Liberals – left Liberals and the left fall for this Two Card Regime Change stuff every time.
I will challenge anyone to prove to me where any Regime Change hastened and installed by the US (in particular but I’ll allow the West in general as well) has improved the lives of ALL the Regime Changed populations after the Western Regime changes happened.
I think I can safely say that every time The Regime Changes happen that the political types mentioned above – when they fail go very quiet and about a year or two later they then engage in presenting the punters with various stories about the poor individuals lives after the Regime Change.
For an example, despite the Hell On Earth in Gaza/Sudan and Yemen they keep coming to us with emotional stories/appeals and Awww stories and pretend that they didn’t want things to be like this.
Conveniently forgetting that they were the bastards who cheered it all on in the first place.
“I didn’t have Donald Trump Benyamin Netanyahu Nigel Farage Jeremy Corbyn and Zara Sultana denouncing Iran on the same day on my Bingo Card for today tbh.” The Unz Review – The Left’s Iran Moment Proves Anti-Imperialism Is Dead
I’m still standing
Clear eyes 👁🧠
no fear💪👊
Zarah played this same role on Syria; Corbyn too on the Labour ‘antisemitism crisis’.
Still scrambling to prove they are every bit as respectable as Lord Mann and Baron Finklestein.