For almost a month, Iran’s streets have been taken by a sweeping revolution which erupted after the killing of Mahsa Amini on the hands of the Iranian “moral police” on 16th September. The protests have been consistent and spreading to the point that many, Iranians, and foreigners alike, are hoping that this wil become the watershed moment that will eventually bring down the Iranian radical Shiite regime. Many argue these hopes are unrealistic. Nonetheless, President Biden has ended the need for a discussion by providing Iran with the financial lifeline it needed.
Biden’s helping hand became apparent when Iran’s official government news agency confirmed that Tehran will receive $7 billion of its frozen funds in South Korea for a prisoner exchange deal with the United States. [1]
The money was just what the Iranian government needed as the ongoing protests have been squeezing the resources of the Iranian regime. In fact, on September 15th, I published a piece on how unrest and demonstrations were already a burden to the regime. [2] Hence, the current wave of protests is an escalation of an already consistent practice. Therefore, the regime has become even more strapped for cash.
A $7 billion handout from President Biden to the Mullah is not only a break for the regime, but in fact an endorsement of what the terrorist regime has been doing to its own people, with no care in the world to the international organizations documenting the crimes. [3] We cannot blame the regime alone for this. Who in the Middle East would care what the world thinks if the United States was supporting them? And, in this case, translating its support with hard cold cash.
In fact, the Iranian regime has begun prosecuting protesters for “sedition” and “seeking to change the regime,” and other crimes that usually end up with death sentences being handed down like candy from the regime’s court. The significance of this has been explained to me by Dr. Mohammad Al-Mathaji, an Iranian dissident who lives in exile in London. Al-Mathaji told me “The way it goes, the regime begins putting people on trial the minute it feels secure, usually when the regime feels shaky, it would not harass protesters with anything other than the usual police brutality, now they are pulling people out of their homes and putting them on trial for crimes punishable by death, this means one thing, the regime feels empowered after the money authorized for him by Biden.”
The way President Biden is handling this is very disappointing as he is giving up on the values he ran on for president. One cannot help but be perplexed when the President’s own party passionately supported Black Lives Matter’s protesters while at the same time allowing $7 billion to the Iranian regimes which will be used to brutalize protesters in Iran and kill women seeking freedom from radical oppression. More buzzling is the fact that Vice President Harris, first woman to take the job, a feminist, and a self-declared humanitarian, is failing to do anything to stop the president from bankrolling Iran’s oppression of women protesting a radical Shiite dress code and seeking their freedom.
In conclusion, while the level of protests and the brazenness of demonstrators are unprecedented, and while the Iranian regime has never been weaker, it is unlikely that the regime would fall if the Biden Administration is still courting it and making it relevant all the time with the so-called Iranian nuke deal, and with cash.
As for our revolting Iranian brothers, their fate would have been different if Trump was still in the White House.
I call on President Biden, to not stamp a Presidential Seal on the acts of the terrorist Iranian regime. This will prove to be very expensive to the morale and interests of your administration.
[1] https://www.iranintl.com/en/202210022711
[2] https://www.newsmax.com/tedbelman/abadan-ayatollah-regime/2022/09/15/id/1087661/
[3] https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/10/05/iran-security-forces-fire-kill-protesters