No one disputes that the Iranian people have been dealt a terrible set of cards, but the looming prospect of a U.S. military intervention could very likely make things worse for them. For some, democracy, freedom, and happiness are all the same words. They cannot conceive of a country’s population being free or happy unless they are open to the influence of international institutions and NGOs.
In the case of Iran, the adoption of democracy isn’t an inherently bad thing. Still, it’s delusional to believe that a shift to democracy will fix its preexisting internal divisions and ensure the ascendance of liberalism. Most importantly, it’s not worth the U.S. and Western governments spilling blood and treasure to ensure Iranians get that system of government.
Many seem to have forgotten that one of the lessons of the Arab Spring is that popular discontent with one autocratic regime does not necessarily translate into the uprooting of that regime and its replacement with a government committed to freedom and democracy. Nor should it be assumed that a population which has so many internal divisions is yearning for a Western-approved government.
Iran is estimated to be the third most populous country in the Middle East and one of the most diverse. Other than Persians, there are Azerbaijanis, Kurds, Lurs, Arabs, Balochs, Talysh, and Turkmen, among others, as well as a significant Sunni minority in the Shia-dominated country, along with smaller Christian and Jewish populations. Many of these demographic groups have ties to populations outside Iran who have agendas different from those of the Iranian people as a whole.
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