Trump Promised to Liberate Iran. Then the Bombs Fell

By Christopher Alam

Nearly two weeks into the US-Israel led war with Iran there remains no end in sight to the conflict. As bombs continue to fall on Tehran and as the fighting expands into neighboring countries, oil markets have been roiled, sending shock waves across the global economy. Professor Minoo Moallem teaches gender and women’s studies at UC Berkeley and is the author of several books on Iranian history and culture. She says far from welcoming US intervention, many Iranians are simply mourning the violence, and that any transition in Iran must be led by Iranians. She spoke with ACoM’s Chris Alam. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

What was your initial reaction to news of the US bombing of Iran? 

I felt sad, angry, anxious, worried about my family and friends in Iran. This is a very dangerous war in my view.

What about the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei? What impacts do you think this will have?

The assassination of Ayatollah Khamenei and his family and his grandchildren, I think is very devastating for Muslims who follow him. He still has people who respect him and consider him as their spiritual leader. Also, assassinating his family when he was sitting in his home and not hiding, not escaping, makes him a hero and a martyr for Shia Muslims. Khamenei’s killing has provoked demonstrations among Muslims in the Middle East, North Africa, and other parts of the world. But of course, in Iran, opinions are very divided. There are millions that support Khamenei, also millions that are against his leadership. So, he remains a crucial figure. 

And yet Khamenei’s government has been condemned for the massacre of thousands of protestors — some estimates put the figure in the tens of thousands — in January. 

The Islamic Republic has been very repressive, however, Khamenei represented a figure that was really defending Iranian sovereignty. And that is significant. He also remained consistent in his opposition to Iran developing any nuclear arms. The Islamic Republic cannot be limited to Khamenei. There are different factions in the government that do not necessarily agree with each other. But religiously and ethically, Khamenei was against Iran acquiring nuclear weapons and he prevented that from happening. 

Of course he and the Islamic Republic were not totally popular. There have been protests and opposition because of sanctions that have devastated the Iranian economy. The government has not been receptive to people’s grievances. But Iranians have been active since the Iranian Revolution of 1979. They’re socially and politically struggling. They have been contesting. This is a population of 92 million that is highly educated. Many are against the Islamic Republic, but many others are not. 

Hours after the bombing started President Trump called on Iranians to rise up. That of course did not happen. How do Iranians inside and outside of the country see this war? 

After the bombing started we saw a lot of dancing and singing by the Iranian diaspora that doesn’t live in Iran. That is actually making those in Iran who are now under heavy bombardment from the U.S and Israel very angry. People are realizing that those who promised to liberate Iran are now bombing them. On the very first day of bombardment the first thing hit was a girl’s primary school, where 170 kids were killed. (An inquiry by the U.S. military found the U.S. responsible for the bombing despite repeated denials from the White House.) And then there was an attack on two hospitals in Tehran. So, I wouldn’t say that masses of Iranians are dancing and celebrating. No. Actually, if you look at the videos that are coming out of Iran, masses of people are mourning. 

Are you in touch with anyone in Iran?

It’s hard to be in touch with anybody. The internet comes and goes. However, I got some news from a few people who are saying they can’t even leave the house, or they can’t even leave Tehran because there’s intense bombardment. And I also heard from some essential workers, doctors, nurses, and so on, and they’re really worried because after the bombardment of these hospitals, they said they don’t know if they should take care of the newborn babies, the people who are sick, or the injured. They’re trying to transfer them to other parts of Iran. It’s a devastating situation. 

On March 9 Iran announced the selection of Khamenei’s son, 56-year-old Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed his father as supreme leader. Does that rule out any hope of reform? 

Under war conditions, the question is not reform, the question is not social protest, the question is survival. And that is a huge problem, because war conditions are going to prevent social protest and limit what people can or cannot negotiate. Iran has changed enormously since 1979. There are Iranian opposition movements that are very strong and are expressing their ideas. But in my view, any external intervention in Iran will lead to chaos and the balkanization of the country. 

How likely is a fractured Iran? 

Since the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the US has wanted a balkanized Iran. We want an Iran that is separated between the Kurds and the Lurs and Baluch and Azerbaijanis. But Iran is, of course, a very multicultural, multi-religious, multi-ethnic society. Some of these ethnic minorities might want self-governance, they might be critical of the Islamic Republic, but they don’t have separatist projects, except for those groups that are getting funding from foreign powers. Also, many ethnic minorities in Iran are well integrated within the government. Khamenei was Azeri. Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian is Azeri. There are all kinds of minorities involved in the government. And there are also all kinds of ethnic groups that are against some of the repressive politics of the Islamic Republic. 

What is this war about in your view? 

I think mainly this war is about controlling Iran, not letting it be a sovereign state. Since the Iranian Revolution of 1979, forces in the US and in Israel have been trying to overthrow the Iranian state. First, we started with the 1980 Nojeh coup d’etat, which failed. Then we supported Iraq in attacking Iran, and Iran went through eight years of war, which actually had a huge impact on the securitization of the Iranian state. 

In the run up to this latest conflict, Iran was in the middle of negotiations both times when the US attacked. They have been willing to negotiate. They have been willing to compromise. We haven’t been open to negotiation. Under Obama, there was some movement towards negotiation. But right now, in the middle of both negotiations, we started to bombard Iran. And the result? Oil prices are surging, shipments through the Strait of Hormuz have all but stopped, and the economy is shuddering. We created this chaos. And the longer it continues, the more damage we are going to experience. 

Do you see a path forward in all of this? What is a best case scenario for Iran? 

What happened during the 1979 revolution, Iranians wanted three things. They wanted independence, they wanted freedom, and they wanted a form of a republican state. Those last two have not been realized, and they will only be realized by Iranian people, young and old, in Iran. We should actually listen to Iranians instead of speaking for Iranians. 

Iran is a beautiful country. Even those of us who are in the diaspora have memories of our favorite places in Iran. No matter what our political ideologies are or what we think about Iran we all care about the continuation of Iranian culture which has been in existence for 3,000 years and is in fact a fusion of different cultural traditions. 

Iran is imagined differently by different groups. For some people Iran is identified with Shia Islam. For others, Iran is about a rich tradition of poetry, the arts, science and mathematics. There’s no single imagination of what Iran should be or is. What worries me at this point is that the work needed to create a shared vision of the future, work that had been developing, has now been stopped by this war.

This is the second of two interviews with influential members of the Iranian diaspora about the ongoing war in Iran. You can read our conversation with Alireza Hekmatshoar, host of Radio Iran