For decades under a religious dictatorship, Iranians have demonstrated a profound resilience and a steadfast desire for democratic change. The United States has a pivotal role to play in supporting these aspirations.
The widespread boycott of both the first and second rounds of voting serves as a powerful testament to the Iranian people’s deep-seated desire for the overthrow of the entire regime.
As Iran approaches its presidential election on June 28, the regime’s focus appears to be less on selecting the next president and more on creating a spectacle designed to boost voter turnout.
Despite the Iranian regime’s relentless crackdown through killings and executions, the movement for change has not only persisted but has also grown in intensity and scale.
Recent elections in Iran starkly underscore the systemic and deep-seated issues plaguing the Islamic Republic’s political system, highlighting the undeniable truth that elections in Iran are fundamentally neither free nor fair.
The question of “how to deal with Iran” has been among the top foreign policy challenges for Washington for the past four decades. But with policies focused on Tehran’s nuclear threat and reckless attempts to empower imaginary Iranian “moderates,” Washington has failed to recognize – and strategize for – a revolution that has been long in the works.
