In 2009, then-President Barack Obama chose to ignore the pleas for support from the Iranian people as they were protesting in the streets against the Human-Rights violating, theocratic, despotic Iranian regime. Obama's excuse for not offering even some level of verbal support to people who were quickly "dealt with" by order of the Ayatollah was his concern that American intervention of any kind would serve as a rallying cause for the regime. This was, of course, accepted by left-leaning geopolitical "experts" as reasonable and heavily criticized by more conservative voices operating in the realm of foreign affairs policy.
The decision by the Obama administration not to speak up on behalf of the Iranian people who wished to see a return of freedom to their nation led to a swift ending of the protests. The regime did not need any other motivation to squash the movement than the visible challenge to their authority. At the time, many deemed this to be an error on the part of the administration or an inherent "softness" on the international stage. However, later actions brought that assessment into question.
While not supporting "democracy" for Iran, Obama was personally very verbally supportive of the Arab Spring throughout 2010 and 2011 and, especially, the Muslim Brotherhood's short-term take-over of Eygpt in 2012 (as well as expressing disappointment at the quick ousting of the Muslim Brotherhood shortly after that). At that point, Obama was not concerned about the perception of American intervention in the region. Nor was he concerned about the will of Arabs or Persians and their "right to self-determination." It looked very much like he wished to promote the "right kind" of Muslim, not Islam in general, but a specific Islamic ideology. Still, many refused to make that connection, and the stage was set for the so-called Iran Nuclear Deal.
The Iran Nuclear Deal was touted as a significant diplomatic victory for the Obama administration. It was officially announced on July 15th, 2015, and was sold as a way to stop Iran's nuclear weapon ambitions. It allowed Iran to continue to work on their "nuclear energy" program, plus sent a minimum of $400 million in cash (and a release of frozen assets estimated on the low end to be worth $150 billion) to Tehran along with the promise of relief of sanctions leveled against the regime, individuals in the government, and high ranking members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard. Many conservatives pointed out at the time that Iran's nuclear energy program was little more than a front for their weapons program, so even if you could trust the Iranian government's promises (given their open ambitions, not a wise thing to do), all that had been accomplished was slowing down the development of weapons. It was also pointed out at the time that money is fungible. Sending millions of dollars to the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism certainly did not seem to be in America's best interest or, the interest of our allies, or even just stability in the region.
Those on the political left would have you believe that it is merely a coincidence that after the arrival of the "pallets of cash" from the Bank of Obama, the sophistication of weaponry in the hands of Hezbollah and the Houthis (who first rose to prominence in Yemen during the aforementioned Arab Spring) improved exponentially from what they had before; and that the Hamas terror tunnels morphed into a marvel of modern engineering. But the rest of us were saying a collective, unhappy, "We told you so." It was an easily predictable outcome.
During the Trump administration, Iran continued to foster influence in the region by fighting a proxy war against Saudi Arabia through the Houthis, who currently control North Yemen, by supporting Hezbollah in their frequent attacks on Israel's northern towns and financing the development and planning of what culminated in the October 7th attack of Hamas on Israel. Iran also continued to hold sway in Syria as well, but Russia had a much more significant direct role in Syria going back into the late Obama administration, so it is rarely mentioned by commentators these days. Iran went about their business as low-key as possible during Trump's presidency. They still had to project power in the region, but other than a bit of saber-rattling after Iranian General Qasem Soleimani was killed in Iraq during a meeting with local militants that were targeting Americans, Iran went about the spreading of terrorism through their proxies. Iran was not as overt, out of respect, fear, or just the perceived unpredictability of Donald Trump.
The Trump administration withdrew from the Iran Nuclear Deal, worked on re-establishing U.S. and international sanctions against the Mullahs, and in a move that would have won a Nobel Peace Prize for anyone else on the planet, they worked behind the scenes to join Arab nations and Israel together in what is known as the Abraham Accords. (The timing of the Hamas attack on Israel is widely believed to have been an effort to prevent Saudi Arabia from joining the Abraham Accords.)
All of this is the past. A pattern of American acquiescence to the will of the Ayatollah emerged during the Obama years, including a "kissing of the ring" when two United States Navy riverine command boats were seized by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard. The projection of American strength returned under Trump, and the normalization of relations between Israel and Arab nations like the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, Morocco, Egypt, and Jordan brought the first realistic chance of peace in the Middle East. Now is the present, and we have the Biden Administration, a.k.a. Obama's third term.
Since January 20th, 2021, Joe Biden has been on a mission to undo everything Donald Trump did. That includes getting Iran to enter an agreement similar to Obama's deal with them. Tehran, however, sensing Biden's politically motivated desperation, refused to even meet with representatives of the U.S. directly. After two meetings on the topic, where other nations negotiated on behalf of the Biden administration, it became clear that Iran had no intention of ever giving Biden anything. (Biden did manage to give Iran $6 billion to secure the release of 5 Americans who were being held by the Islamic theocracy during this timeframe. A move that had even some Democrats angered as it sent the message that this government is willing to pay if citizens are taken prisoner.)
On September 16th, 2022, a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, died in the detention of Iran's Morality Police. They had beaten and detained for an alleged transgression of the women's dress codes before her death (failure to wear her hijab correctly). This event set off widespread pro-women's rights and pro-democracy protests within Iran. These protests, in many cases, were also calling for the end of Iran's theocratic regime. Things are different this time; the Islamic Revolutionary Guard has engaged in their customary brutal tactics but, to this point, has been unable to end the protests. The harder they push, the stronger the resolve of the Iranian people has become. The Biden administration has barely commented on the situation, and the mainstream legacy media has stopped reporting on it. The newsroom editors act as if this is not a worthy story to share. Still, it seems far more likely that if the American people were to know the full extent to which the Ayatollah has gone to crush his people, they would be outraged at the continued Barbery and would, at the very least, demand the Biden administration do something in support of the oppressed people of Iran.
On October 7th, 2023, the most brutal attack on the Jewish people since the holocaust was carried out by Hamas. Israel had withdrawn from Gaza back in 2005. The people of Gaza elected Hamas to be their elected government in 2006. A ceasefire between the people of Gaza and Israel had been in effect since that 2005 withdrawal, with some skirmishes along the border fence that Hamas had orchestrated. After the inhuman actions of the Hamas terrorists on October 7th, Israel declared war on Hamas. At first, Biden said all the right things. Unquestioned support for our alley Israel, which looked suspiciously like Biden thought it would be a great excuse to divert more tax dollars to Ukraine while we were sending aid to Israel, but Biden's support quickly started to wane after both the Republicans refused to sign a blank check for Biden's pet projects tied to aid for Israel and the far-left activists started chanting, "from the river to the sea" in American cities, on college campuses and even in front of the White House.
Naturally, no one was surprised when multiple members of "The Squad" came out in support of Hamas. Rashida Tlaib calls herself a Palestinian American; Ilhan Omar has, on numerous occasions, made antisemitic comments publicly; and don't get me started on the things that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is willing to say. (This matters in the context of my question because Hamas is a proxy for Iran against Israel. Support of these terrorists is support of Iran in the region.) But others in the Democratic party have been protective of Iran and their proxies in ways that work against American interests and often against the platforms that the Democratic party claims to represent.
Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Sen. Cardin has recently made it clear that his committee will not be moving forward with the MAHSA Act, named after the aforementioned victim of Iranian violence against women, Mahsa Amini. The MAHSA Act was passed in the House overwhelmingly back in September 2023. It would impose sanctions on the Supreme Leader of Iran and the President of Iran and their respective offices for human rights abuses and support for terrorism. It calls out the actions of the Iranian security forces during their violent crackdown. Actions named specifically include mass arrests, well-documented beating of protestors, throttling of the internet and telecommunications services, and shooting protestors with live ammunition. Iranian security forces have reportedly killed hundreds of protestors and other civilians, including women and children. Why kill the bill?
This may seem like a lot of different, barely - if at all - related events. But when seen together, it shows a long-running pattern by members of America's political left elevating Iran's status in the Middle East at the expense of the U.S. and our allies. I have heard some on the left suggest that this is an effort to get the U.S. out of politics in the region altogether. The idea being that a stronger Iran would serve as a counterbalance to Saudi Arabia and Israel, negating the need for U.S. influence in that part of the world. If true, that plan completely ignores the intentions of the Iranian regime and the hopes of Russia and China to further extend their influence in the natural resource-rich region. It is, at best, an incredibly naive and short-sighted idea. However, suppose the "counterbalance" idea is not the motivation. In that case, we really need to get to the bottom of why so many Democrats, since Obama was first in the White House, are working harder for the Ayatollah than for the American people.
This question becomes even more critical now, with three recent events. Iran has moved a warship into the Red Sea, seemingly as a response to the U.S. military destroying three boats belonging to the Iran-backed Houthis. An Iranian with jihad terrorist ties was caught after he had illegally entered the U.S. near Niagara Falls, New York. And a pair of explosions killed nearly 100 people at a ceremony in Iran to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the death of General Qassem Soleimani, where the Iranian government has called it terrorism, blamed both Israel and the U.S. and promised "swift justice" for the perpetrators. If not handled properly, America and its allies may find themselves in a situation that never had to be. So, I'll ask again. Is there more to Democrat support of Iranian Theocracy than bad policy?
