Comment by pcf
5 days ago
Every Iranian I know support the current US/Israeli war against the Islamic Republic.
They say things like "no matter what it takes, no matter how many of us die, we must be free again, this time we will win against the terrorist regime" (paraphrased).
Are these Iranian friends and their children the ones at risk the next time the US or Israel "accidentally" double taps civilian infrastructure?
The regime will kill you/your loved ones and brand them as criminals if you protest against them or break an unreasonable law, the US and Israel will kill you and brand you as terrorists because you happened to be Iranian and in the wrong place.
My family in Tehran fear the bombs but support the US continuing to do so. I think the bombing campaign needs to end, so I disagree with them on that. Based on what little we know coming out of Tehran (we only get a few min of landline phone calls from Tehran once a week), the issue is splitting families due to the mental strain it's having. That being said, the overall feeling is very much still pro-US.
I think people outside of Iran/Iranians vastly underestimate the disdain for the Iranian regime. Go watch the movie "It was just an accident" to get a basic feel for how much they hate the regime, then amplify that tenfold.
> My family in Tehran fear the bombs but support the US continuing to do so > I think people outside of Iran/Iranians vastly underestimate the disdain for the Iranian regime.
Iranian here.. no, we're not celebrating US bombing our children. People are very united right now, the war is for the survival of IRAN. Our plight with IRGC is set aside to defeat the invaders attempting to take our home land.
I'm not sure how you can both claim "you support the bombing of your family in Tehran" but also claim "the campaign needs to end".
For reference, my own cousin was taken to Evin prison for 6 months after the Mahsa uprising and after she was released, she had to be hospitalized for a year. She will never leave a normal life again. So I have NO LOVE for IRGC.
But no, I am not going to "cheer" for US and Israel for bombing Isfahan, Shiraz and destroy our Shah Cheragh.
We have 90M people in our home and we can figure things out among ourselves, just like have done so since the dawn of the Achaemenids.
P.S I hope your family is safe.
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I was living in Tehran during the 2011-2012 protests, British embassy incident etc (I was ~13 then).
I once attended a military "fair"(?) where they'd show off their equipment and had some anti-US "games", eg one involving throwing a shoe at a target with Obama or maybe Bush's face printed on it, and observed people enthusiastically taking part in it.
My impression was that while people hated and feared the regime, they still broadly shared the anti-foreign intervention stance, particularly against the US. I'm having a hard time believing that they'd still be pro-US after Trump threatened genocide against them.
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If you look at the chances, there's a far greater chance of dying in the hands of SUV mounted machine guns firing at crowds than precision bombs that mostly hit regime forces
Source for the latter occurrence?
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Iranian here! I want to see the regime answer for its crimes. They act like an occupying force, taking the country hostage.
With that being said I don’t like/want the war. I understand and sympathize with the emotional response from my compatriots because they see the oppressors are getting the bloody beating they well deserve. But I don’t really think that the current war brings anything good for the people. I wish it did but it doesn’t look like it. I wish the regime would fall but they haven’t and we now have ~2000 more innocents dead on top of thousands that government killed in January.
I am guessing you're not a supported of Reza Pahlavi?
How in your mind do we get to the regime answering for its crimes? What is going to dislodge them? If they are not dislodged and continue to indoctrinate more people where does this go? If they have more weapons where does it go?
Is any chance that some elements within the current regime will change sides? What percent of soldiers or militia are die hard fanatics vs. people who will jump ship if there's a good chance of that "ship" sinking?
It's very easy to offer the lives of others for your goals.
In fairness, the claim is that all the Iranians are offering their own lives for the poster's goals.
Of course, that only brings us to, "It's easy to claim others are offering their lives for your goals."
I guess it's probably best to just realize everything you see on the subject of any given war is probably propaganda. And judge the value of it through that lens.
I think a lot of people can apply common sense and realize that no real person is rooting for their family getting bombed to bits. And hopefully realize that posters who make up such persons are spreading vile propaganda that dehumanizes them so that there won’t be too much opposition to the massacre of civilians.
"Some of you May Die, But it's a Sacrifice I am Willing to Make"
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It's always good to state if the Iranians you know are currently residing in Iran, for clarity.
Your paraphased quote also implies that there must be actual regime change for the deaths to be worth it (ie, no IRGC).
If only they had internet so that we could ask them!
It's scary that your 1-minute old comment got insta-downvoted.
It isn't scary it's obvious. Majority of people on HN are american. Obviously the government would want to control the narrative here.
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That’s interesting; how many of them are currently in Iran or have close family in Iran?
The big question is what comes after. I don't think many disagreed with Saddam or Gaddafi but history shows that this doesn't necessarily lead to good outcomes.
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Did you see on the news how many people were mourning for Khomeini on the streets ?
Clearly your sample of Iranians is very biased.
I am not pro theocratic regimes, but not only does the US/Israel _not_ have the right to wage this war, but this war will only make the regime stronger.
Nothing more unifying than getting bombed, especially in martyrdom cultures.
Do you ever think what would happen to them in the West if they weren't vocal opponents of the Iranian state?
It's easy to say that when you're a shah supporter living in the west.
> Every Iranian I know support the current US/Israeli war against the Islamic Republic.
That seems a little bit suspect, how many Iranians do you know? I have difficulty believing that less than around 20-30% of them support the regime. There seems to be a baseline of around that fraction of people who support the status quo.
It isn't so hard to find people who support full-on communism. Any reasonable sample should be turning up a lot of really weird opinions.