by Thaddeuas G. McCotter
Appeasement has failed Iran before; liberty will come not from Western neutrality or foreign bombs, but from standing with Iranians as they force the regime’s implosion.
The lessons of history regarding the barbarous Iranian regime have been ignored for too long by the West. As was noted on the floor of the U.S. House by a representative long opposed to the reign of terror of these murderous mullahs:
“Mr. Speaker, from the hellish streets where Iranians demand freedom, voices arise to pray for deliverance and liberty; but, elsewhere, safely ensconced in freedom, others argue for appeasement and ‘neutrality.’ We must choose wisely between these competing voices and visions, lest we betray our allegiance to liberty.
“Some voices allege America’s support of Iranian democracy demonstrators harms their cause, strengthens the regime, increases the repression, and, once the freedom seekers are slaughtered, precludes ‘good’ relations with the murderous mullahs. Their siren song is wrong.”
After enumerating all the measures and encouraging they be linked into a singular policy, the Representative concluded:
After enumerating and encouraging to be linked into a singular policy, all the measures short of kinetic military intervention at the United States’ disposal to support the Iranian people and depose the regime, the representative concluded:
“If we pale and fail to take these measures, we will be haunted by the cries of the oppressed Iranians abandoned to preserve our neutrality in this time of moral crisis. But when we act, we will expand freedom to the oppressed and enslaved and ensure it for our children and ourselves. Only then will we have honorably performed our duty to liberty by guaranteeing generations of Americans and Iranians may proclaim, ‘We are free.’’’
Regrettably, back in 2009, my urgent appeals went unheeded. President Obama paled and failed, and the Iranian people’s hopes for freedom died at the hands of the Iranian regime’s butchers. Nor did Mr. Obama secure anything from the regime but its undying derision and contempt for trying to seek better relations.
Today, with the death toll among protestors rising in the face of the Iranian regime’s lethal repression, the obstinate failure of the Western Left to understand the nature of, let alone utter obloquy about the crimes of, the Tehran government remains a matter of increasingly legendary shame. Instead, the left either harkens back to the U.S.- and U.K.-backed deposing of Mosaddegh to rationalize away the current regime’s democide or downplays the reason for the Iranian people’s protests as merely an economic one, rather than a cry for freedom.
In a January 12, 2026, Facebook post, Evan Sayet observed:
“I am truly baffled that so few—if any—commentators are even mentioning the water bankruptcy and the power shortages it has caused as being even a part of what’s behind this revolution in Iran. Instead, it’s about inflation and the tanking of the rial. I think that one of the major reasons this uprising is going to succeed where the others have failed is that the people know that they have a choice: they can die by an Islamicist’s bullet, or they can die of thirst, and only victory holds any hope for survival.”
The clarion logic of Mr. Sayet’s post was lost upon the left, as typified by this post on X by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres:
“Shocked by reports of violence & excessive use of force by the Iranian authorities against protesters resulting in deaths & injuries in recent days. The rights to freedom of expression, association & peaceful assembly must be fully respected & protected. I urge the Iranian authorities to exercise maximum restraint & refrain from unnecessary or disproportionate use of force. I also urge steps that enable access to information in the country, including restoring communications.”
Shocked by an Iranian regime that has never respected the rights of its people? Shocked by an Iranian regime that during the Iran-Iraq War “repeatedly launched fruitless infantry attacks, using human assault waves composed partly of untrained and unarmed conscripts (often young boys snatched from the streets), which were repelled by the superior firepower and air power of the Iraqis?” Shocked by an Iranian regime that killed Neda and Taraneh? Evidently, the U.N. Secretary General refuses to heed the wisdom of the former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky: “How a government treats its own people cannot be separated from how that government could be expected to treat other countries.’’
Fortunately, amid the Iranian regime’s intensifying human rights abuses and crimes being perpetrated against the Iranian people for the “sin” of wanting their liberty, on Truth Social, President Trump has signaled his support for the oppressed populace: “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!”
Further, as reported by Reuters, the president
“…was to meet with senior advisers on Tuesday to discuss options for Iran,” a U.S. official told Reuters on Sunday. The Wall Street Journal had reported that options included military strikes, using secret cyber weapons, widening sanctions, and providing online help to anti-government sources. ‘The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,’ Trump told reporters travelling on Air Force One on Sunday night. Trump said he was in contact with Iranian opposition leaders. He also said, without elaborating, that Iran’s leaders had called him on Saturday and want to negotiate, and that he might talk to them.”
It is here, however, that this president’s ardor for the expansion of liberty must be informed by prudence, for it to be realized by the Iranian people.
First, there is nothing to be gained by talking to the Iranian regime. There is no grand bargain to be struck. They are not even deserving of a bidden “good riddance” as they are ushered into the sh-t can of history.
And they will be ushered into it not by the military might of the U.S. or other free nations. It will be achieved by the Iranian people. As I have long noted, the end of this terrorist regime will not be accomplished by foreign explosions, but by an internal implosion beneath the weight of the Iranian people’s aspirations for liberty.
In consequence, any active, kinetic U.S. military involvement in these protests will be unhelpful at best; and, given the Iranian regime’s propaganda, which blames the U.S. and Israel for instigating these spontaneous popular protests, it would likely play into the hands of the heinous Iranian regime.
Notwithstanding these cautions, it is extremely heartening to witness President Trump and his administration’s support for the Iranian people. Unlike the timorous, left-wing Obama administration’s attempts to appease the terrorist-exporting Iranian regime, the courageous Iranian people know President Trump and the American people have their back. And, despite the cynical protestations of some, such support truly matters.
Let us give a gulag prisoner who fought against all odds and state-administered depravities in pursuit of freedom, the aforementioned Mr. Sharansky:
‘‘We developed our own tapping language to communicate with each other between the crawls of our cells. We had to develop new communication methods to pass on this great, impossible news. Reagan dared to call the great Soviet Union an evil empire. That moment made it impossible for anyone in the West to continue closing their eyes to the real nature of the Soviet Union. It was one of the most important, freedom-affirming declarations, and we all instantly knew it. For us, that was the moment that really marked the end for them, and the beginning for us. The beginning of a new revolution, a freedom revolution.”
No, the intrepid Iranian people are not yet free.
But they will be.
***
An American Greatness contributor, the Hon. Thaddeus G. McCotter (M.C., Ret.) served Michigan’s 11th Congressional District from 2003 to 2012. He served as Chair of the Republican House Policy Committee and as a member of the Financial Services, Joint Economic, Budget, Small Business, and International Relations Committees. Not a lobbyist, he is also a contributor to Chronicles, a frequent public speaker and moderator for public policy seminars, and a co-host of “John Batchelor: Eye on the World” on CBS radio, among sundry media appearances.
Thaddeuas G. McCotter
Source: https://amgreatness.com/2026/01/17/a-human-wave-of-hope-the-iranian-people-demand-freedom/
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