There Are No Moderate Leaders In Iran

Why do some scholars and news media members continue to describe members of the Iranian leadership as moderate? From time to time over the last half century, the mainstream media has described the Iranian mullahs as having a moderate wing. History has shown these statements to be ludicrous and having just as much credibility as one who might have described a member of the SS leadership in Germany as being good-hearted. 

Before Ayatollah Khomeini came to power after the overthrow of the Shah of Iran, newspapers like the NY Times described Khomeini as a welcome change to the autocratic style of the Shah. As soon as Khomeini came to power, however, he instituted strict Islamic law and forced women to go back to a life similar to what women experienced in the Middle Ages. 

For 5 decades, we have been told that there is a moderate leader coming to power in Iran. Sadly, for the Iranian people, this has just been wishful thinking.

Mohammed Khatami was heralded as being a new voice in Iran 25 years ago. He was described this way in spite of the fact that he had sentenced thousands of prisoners to death. In 2001, he revealed his true intentions when he used brute force to smash dissenters. 

In 2009, we  were told that Iranian Prime Minister, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was going to lose an election to a moderate candidate. The Iranian regime “controlled” the election and made sure the “moderate” lost overwhelmingly. They eventually put the “moderate” under house arrest.

I will go out on a limb and state that an Iranian will not make it to the top of the current regime unless he believes that Allah controls everything and that Israel must be destroyed. There has never been an Iranian leader who rose to the top while sporting a “COEXIST” bumper sticker on his automobile.

Trump realized that the current regime in Iran would not stop their attempts to obtain a nuclear weapon and furthermore they were determined to control the Middle East and prevent the normalization of relations between Israel and Arab states.

Hopefully, the overwhelming military force that has been brought against Iran by the US and Israel will cause a new Iranian leader to change his country’s behavior. If that occurs it will only happen because the leader “got religion” while staring down the barrel of a gun.