‘We ended Iranian experimented democracy’: Iranian-American Protester Explains Why Iranians Distrust America
An Iranian-American protestor spoke to State Coup News and MeidasTouch about why Iranians don’t want yet another U.S. intervention despite the constant repression they face from their government.
“I woke up this morning, and I had to look up if the school my nieces go to is the one bombed.” The protestor, who has family in Iran, said in the interview while marching against the war. He clarified that his family members are safe, but the situation is nevertheless nerve-wracking. Not long before this, reports mentioned that Israel had bombed a girls’ school in Minab, which resulted in 165 deaths.
The reporter brought up the Trump administration’s argument for launching this war. For the sake of “liberating the Iranian people,” Trump and his cohorts have used this as one of the reasons to strike.
“But what Iranians distrust more than their own government is America,” the protestor argued, citing that even his own family did not like the Iranian regime.
“Most Americans forget: We ended the Iranian experimented democracy in 1953.” He says that the American government launched a coup d’état against the democratically elected leaders of Iran at the time. Because of this, he claims that Iranians have distrusted America’s intentions.
An undemocratic intervention
The 1953 Iranian coup was led by the United States, together with the United Kingdom. Former Prime Minister Mohammed Mosaddegh nationalized oil reserves, thus threatening Western interests. Under Operation Ajax or Operation Boot, the U.S. and U.K. incited unrest and spread disinformation in Iran to depose Mosaddegh. The coup sought to replace Mosaddegh with Mohammad Reza, who was pro-West.
“I think it’s a blatant attempt to take out what America has hated in the region for a long time, which is a competing political entity that is not under their control,” he adds. The protestor currently has no contact with his family due to a media blackout.
When asked about how he feels about the uncertainty, the protestor found it “weird.”
“It’s one thing to talk about politics in the general sense, but it’s another thing to wake up and think that your government killed your family.”
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