The Republican Party hardly has a good record on Iran policy. The United States in fact has never had a good Iran policy, and this predates the Islamic Republic. At another time, I will make the case for why the U.S. government took every wrong measure—or failed to take the right measure—that caused the triumph of Islamists in 1979. But for now, let’s talk about post-revolution policy and the Democratic Party.
On Thursday, the Department of State’s spokesperson, Ned Price, commented:
We have spent a good deal of time at senior levels, including at [Special Envoy for Iran] Rob [Malley]'s level, including at Deputy [Wendy] Sherman's level, including at the Secretary's level speaking about ways that we can demonstrate our support for those brave Iranians, including many women and girls, who are peacefully demonstrating, taking to the streets, to call for the reforms that they’re demanding.
Reporter:
You said that the U.S. is trying to show its support for women and girls who are taking to the street to call for reform. Is that what the U.S. is seeing now out of Iran when people are burning the Islamic Republic’s flag and the pictures of the supreme leader?
Price:
Again, we are not going to characterize what it is that the people of Iran are calling for.
Except that he characterized it first by talking about reform and peaceful protests.
I don’t know if you’ve seen the footages coming out of Iran, but they are demonstrably not peaceful. Basij militiamen have been beaten up, killed, and tortured. Some have been mutilated. Some have had their batons shoved up their bottoms. These stories, anecdotal they might be, have become popular legends which Iranians are gleefully repeating and making chants about. And not just young people. People of all ages and classes, the enlightened educated and the lower classes, are unified in taking vengeful pleasure in these stories. These are tactics that the Islamic Republic has used against Iranians, and they are happy that regime forces are finally on the receiving end of them. Whatever you think of these actions, one thing is clear: That even those who are not engaging in violence still endorse and celebrate it means that this is not a peaceful movement.