Wouldn’t it have been better for everyone, especially the Iranian people, if the people of Iran had been given the support they needed to overthrow the Islamic Republic?
“Iran claims it has built weapons plants in ‘several’ unnamed countries,” Times of Israel, August 23, 2025:
Iran’s Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh claims the Islamic Republic has established an infrastructure to manufacture weapons in “several countries,” in a television interview with the Iranian news agency Young Journalists Club.
He does not reveal the names of those countries.
Nasirzadeh says “missile development” has been a priority, “after the war with Israel, priorities may change.”…
Tessa says
The biggest failure of the Trump Administration was to stop the war in Iran before taking out the Ayatollah. Israel was on track to get this done but Trump stopped it. This is the biggest failure for Trump thus far. I’m heartbroken that so many Persian people were massacred by this evil regime immediately after the war was ended prematurely. This should have never happened. They needed to continue the war until the people were freed. Israel would have done it but Trump got in the way. I like Trump, but I’m seriously pissed off about this massive failure.
mgoldberg says
No other pres went as far as he did. The goal of destroying the nuclear and missle capalility was achieved with the evil bravado of the mullahs vomiting out of their pie holes. What weasels of death they are. Yes… it would be nice to have the mullahs overgrown, and the day isn’t over for that to happen, but the goals of demonstrating the destuction of what Iran had was achieved. and that will resonate with Iran for a long time
࿗Infidel࿘ says
There were two ways, actually three, of eliminating the threats to Israel:
⮞ Destroying Iran’s uranium enrichment plants and their ballistic capabilities, but doing nothing to overthrow the regime
⮞ Overthrowing the regime, but leaving the next replacement regime (say Pahlavi) to determine what to do about the uranium and the missiles
⮞ Both – destroying the uranium and overthrowing the regime
Thanks to Trump’s dancing to the antisemitic part of the MAGA base, we ultimately went for the first option. Problem w/ that option is that Iran’s regime can continue to try to rebuild those nukes & missiles. This is not even factoring in the suffering of the Iranian people
I actually would have been fine w/ leaving the nukes and missiles intact, but destroying all IRGC & Basij offices, assassinating Khamenei and all major leaders of Iran’s leadership, and letting Reza Pahlavi establish a transition authority to introduce a secular, democratic regime. Once done, such an authority could have worked w/ Israel to disarm its military to an appropriate level, so that it could protect itself against all its neighbors once it became non-muslim, but wouldn’t have any of the power to destroy Israel. As Armin Navabi noted, people are ready to revolt, except that they’re still outnumbered by the IRGC 3:1. Which is why regime change here would have been nothing like what it was in Afghanistan or Iraq, since it would have been driven by the Iranian people, not the Americans or Israelis
gravenimage says
Iran’s defense minister claims Islamic Republic has infrastructure to manufacture weapons in ‘several countries’
………………………………………………….
Several *unnamed* countries, of course…
Alex Lund says
I know you will not like it, but
Iran was till 1979 a non-mullah state.
Then the people of Iran rose up against the Shah (yes, his secret police SAVAK were definitely not nice to say the least) and CHOOSE the mullahs. They could also have choosen the communists or decided to just remove the Shah and stay democratic.
It was their choice!
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Granted, but the bulk of those people are dead! In the Ira* (🇮🇷🇮🇶) war in the 80s, their entire Gen X generation was wiped out, so that the only populations left in Iran were their boomers at the upper end, and Gen Y & descendants at the lower end
Also, the people of Iran then did not have a choice: it’s not like the Shah was removed in an election. The islamic revolutionaries in a coalition w/ the communist Tudeh party seized power, and after that, the former just purged the latter, executing thousands. It’s like claiming that the Afghans “chose” the Taliban after the US withdrawal from that country, when it was just a takeover
Anyway, back to my above point: the bulk of the boomers who supported Khomenei and Khamenei are dead, and according to Armin Navabi a couple of posts ago, something like 80% of Iranians are opposed to the regime. Not just that, there are plenty who support Reza Pahlavi, son of the late Shah. Also, Reza Pahlavi has said that he’s not interested in being restored his throne, but rather, would like to see a smooth and peaceful transition from the current islamic theocracy to a secular democracy. After that, if the majority of people want him to return to the throne, he would, but only as a ceremonial monarch (like the various kings and queens in Europe), rather than as an executive monarch like his father or like Mohammed bin Salman just across the Gulf
Finally, even if we were to accept that Iranians did made a stupid choice some 45 years ago, the implication that they have to live w/ that decision until the end of time is absolutely inane
Alex Lund says
If my comment left the impression that I want the iranians to live under mulah rules for all eternity, then I apologize.
It is about thinking about your choice and how it will impact your future for the next generations.
Or as an evil site described it as: Looking beyond the corner.
But are the people of Iran willing to stand up?
I remember many years ago there was an iranian lesbian who escaped from Iran and was angry at the mullahs because she couldnt live openly.
I looked at her age and she was born during the revolution, so she knew what system she was living in.
But what astonished me was that she just accepted the mullah tyranny.
Compare that to the french when they lived under Nazi tyranny. They fought back, they went guerilla warfare.
This iranian lesbian described how she and her fellow students had to meet in secret for a party. But she was proud of the people of the chemistry department for producing alcohol and the electrical department of building a disco-light machine.
And she described the mullahs as too stupid for university.
I facepalmed at that moment.
If you know chemistry you cannot only produce alcohol, you can also produce BOOM.
And electricity can be used to make the BOOM going off at the right time.
And if the mullahs are so stupid, why werent the intelligent students able to draw the mullahs to a place for lots of BOOM?
The french / italians / polish etc of WWII were capable of this…
Why arent the iranians capable of this?
This woman should have been given a crashcourse in Guerilla warfare Green berets style and sent back to Iran.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Alex
I agree w/ you that people should think about their choices and its long term repercussions. But most countries that are democracies only have to worry about the next 4-5 years, after which if they’re not happy, they get to course-correct. In case of Iran, they overthrew a dynasty that lasted 54 years (pretty short by Iranian standards), but again, they never had any elections. They just used whatever tools they had – the jihadists and the communists – to oust the Pahlavis, but never got to choose for themselves, since neither jihadists nor communists believe in democracy
Watch the video conversation a few posts ago b/w Robert Spencer and Armin Navabi, who describes what the exact mood is in Iran. He described how the IRGC still has 3 militiamen for every person who’s willing to demonstrate. While some Iranians have been brave enough to get killed or executed, suicide is a lot to ask of anybody. Which is why they were counting on Israel to totally disarm the IRGC & Basij, until Trump came in the way
I do hope that Mossad, this time w/o telling US anything, quietly starts sabotaging the IRGC & Basij in all major cities, so that the Iranians get the courage to revolt. And hopefully, after they win, thank Israel but denounce Trump for delaying their liberation