The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran is talking like a man who has just won a war, and maybe he has.
The nationwide demonstrations have largely subsided. President Donald Trump has not yet made good on his Jan. 2 statement that “if Iran shots and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue,” or on Jan. 13 assurance to the Iranian protesters that “HELP IS ON ITS WAY.” In fact, the president appears to have walked all that back, writing on Friday: “I greatly respect the fact that all scheduled hangings, which were to take place yesterday (Over 800 of them), have been cancelled by the leadership of Iran. Thank you!”
The situation is fluid. Trump could still be planning a strike against the Islamic Republic. His credulous statements appearing to accept Iranian officials’ false claims that the Islamic regime halting the execution of protesters could be a strategic feint designed to lull the mullahs into complacency.
If that is the case, the strategy is working wonderfully, for on Saturday morning, Iran’s supreme leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, made a series of statements that sounded for all the world as if he were the victor in a hard-fought war who was now surveying all that had happened and meting out blame accordingly, like the Allies at Nuremberg after World War II.
“We find the US President guilty,” Khamenei declared magisterially, “due to the casualties, damages and slander he inflicted upon the Iranian nation.” Casualties? Yes, Khamenei appeared to be blaming Trump for his own regime’s mass execution of protesters.
And the supremo wasn’t finished. Flush with apparent victory, he added: “From the beginning of the Islamic Revolution until today, the US has lost its dominance over Iran. And they want to bring Iran under their military, political & economic domination again. This isn’t [solely] related to the current US president either! It’s a general US policy.”
It wasn’t enough, however, to proclaim that the Islamic Republic had broken the alleged U.S. “dominance.” Khamenei appeared intent upon punishing the guilty, particularly Trump, saying: “In the numerous seditions in Iran in the past, it was usually the press & second-tier US or European politicians who were interfering. The unique feature of this sedition was that the US President himself interfered in this sedition & encouraged the seditionists.”
Warming to his theme, Khamenei continued: “The US President sent a message to the seditionists saying he would support them and provide military support. In other words, the US President himself was involved in the sedition. These are criminal acts.” And: “The US President introduced the groups who committed acts of vandalism, arson, and murdered people as ‘the Iranian nation.’ He uttered an appalling slander against the Iranian people. We find the US President guilty for this slander.”
All this talk of Trump’s supposed crimes provides backhanded justification for the Islamic Republic’s recently reiterated threats to murder the president. Like Nancy Pelosi and her henchmen, Khamenei believes that branding Trump a criminal, however spurious the justification, makes any subsequent action against the miscreant reasonable.
Trump has reiterated recently that he would prefer to make a deal with the mullahs rather than strike Iran again, but there is no dealing with the mindset that Khamenei is displaying. The leaders of Iran’s Islamic regime see the world in terms of strength and weakness. They respect the former and have nothing but contempt for the latter. Whatever considerations may have gone into Trump’s decision not to strike Iran last week, there is no doubt whatsoever that in Tehran, it is being perceived not as a gesture of good will or as an opening of the door to fruitful negotiations, but as an admission of weakness and a victory for the Islamic Republic.
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That impression could change at any moment, and not just if the U.S. does strike the Islamic Republic after all. Some protesters, demonstrating extraordinary courage, are still out on the streets, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and the regime’s other instruments of repression will not be able to wage successful war against their own people forever.
Right now, however, Khamenei is crowing, and baying for Trump’s blood. At very least, this should be a signal to Washington that the time for praising and thanking the Islamic regime in Tehran for easing up on the protesters has passed.
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