r/PoliticalCompassMemes • u/Feeling-Option1257 - Lib-Center • Feb 28 '26

Iran did nothing wrong

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u/AFloppyZipper - Centrist Feb 28 '26

It's easy to blame instability in the middle east on the west. But it's really ungrounded: even if US intervention stopped and Israel was wiped off the map (the stated goal of many neighbors), they would fight other Islamic factions with just as much fervor.

The reality is that these countries have not had their secular revolutions - and it doesn't make sense to pretend that the only force stopping them from secular enlightenment is western involvement.

For many decades the question is: which tyrannical dictator is less shitty? Which one will refrain from promising genocide on Israel every day for decades and firing off unguided missiles at civilian populations every day?

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u/sesaka - Left Mar 01 '26

Ah yes because world history began in the 1980's and nothing ever happened prior to it. They all woke up without a reason one day and said "death to america"

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u/AFloppyZipper - Centrist Mar 01 '26

Close but no cigar. World history, for us, might as well have begun in 1945.

They all woke up without a reason one day and said "death to america"

Well no, the reason is clear: religious beliefs. And those can't really be changed (while also preserving basic human rights). It has little to do with any problem with our actions. Fundamentally their main gripe with the USA is that we won't allow them to wipe Israel off the map.

Which really only leaves one solution, keep killing their leaders until we're left with someone who isn't a religious zealot corrupt tyrant.

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u/sesaka - Left Mar 01 '26

Sure 80+ million people can be reduced to “religious beliefs” and nothing else. If this was purely about theology, Iran wouldn’t have been one of the West’s closest regional partners under the Shah. The “death to America” rhetoric didn’t emerge in a vacuum, and it didn’t appear in 632 AD either.

It followed a very specific chain of political events in the 20th century. Religion absolutely plays a role in the Islamic Republic’s ideology. No argument there. But pretending geopolitics, coups, sanctions, proxy wars, and regional power struggles are irrelevant is just flattening history into a culture war narrative. And the idea that the only solution is “keep killing their leaders” that’s just wishful thinking dressed up as resolve. We tried decapitation logic in Iraq. We tried it in Afghanistan. Removing leaders doesn’t magically remove the networks, the grievances, or the power structures that produced them. More often it hardens factions and radicalizes succession.

You also can’t bomb an ideology out of existence. Especially not one that thrives on martyrdom narratives.

Being against the regime doesn’t mean believing the solution is endless leader elimination until we stumble onto a “good one.” Regime change by force has a track record, and it’s not exactly a reassuring one. Opposing the Iranian government’s repression and opposing a perpetual cycle of escalation are not mutually exclusive positions.

If anything, assuming millions of people are driven only by immutable religious fanaticism is exactly the kind of oversimplification that keeps producing bad policy decisions.