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I’m not sure what your point is. Are you suggesting that anti-regime Iranians are a minority?

I’m not sure if we have good statistics on this. So everyone may have a different perspective.

All I can say is this: I’m married to an Iranian woman, and through her I’ve met many Iranian expats, and I’ve talked to her family members within Iran.

I think you’ll find that Iranian expats are pretty unanimously against the regime. That’s millions of Iranians. My in-laws who lives in Tehran are anti-regime, along with every single person on my wife’s side of the family: aunts, uncles, cousins. Everybody.

Thousands of protesters were killed opposing the regime. And that’s just the latest protest.

This is a regime that will kill women who don’t cover their hair correctly. Dancing and singing in the street is illegal.

Don’t be concerned on behalf of the regime. This is a just war supported by Iranians. You are on the right side of history to kill people who hang protestors and force little girls to cover every part of their body.

the No Kings movement doesnt seem to care about Ayatollahs

I will respond to your comment honestly. I have literally talked about this topic with actual Iranians.

The Iranians I’ve spoken to feel that the ends will justify the means.

They believe that people will die either way, protesters are dying right now. So if they can destroy the regime, then it will be worth it.

I have a serious problem with calling 100+ schoolgirls who - at best - got instantly dismembered by a bomb and didnt suffer (too much) and at worst were crushed to death or bled out from shrapnel wounds "evil"

I’ve never sent threatening messages to people, and would never do that, so I’m not sure what that’s in reference to?

I’ve responded to this idea of bias in other threads.

I’m open to the idea that I’m perhaps biased by my wife, her friends, and my in-laws.

I’ll admit that it may be a little hard for me to accept that given that I’ve been to so many Iranian celebrations, and met so many different people, and heard the same perspectives again and again. I feel that what I’ve conveyed on hacker news in my comments does reflect truly the conversations I’ve had.

Most importantly, my goal in making these comments is to surface what actual Iranians are thinking.

Many Iranians in the US are afraid to speak out because they have family in Iran, or they’re here in the US on a visa. They fear that if they speak up, they’ll never be able to go home and see their family again.

As a US citizen, who is connected with the Iranian community, I feel it’s my duty to surface these conversations I’ve had.

My wife is Iranian, so I’m connected with a large Iranian expat community, and all my in-laws are in Tehran.

The best recommendation I can give you is to connect with your local Iranian community

I’m not sure where you live, but every major city has one. You will experience great food and great parties and great dancing.

Iranian expats love to dance because dancing and singing in public is illegal in Iran. So they do it as a big middle finger to the Islamic republic.

Calling Iranians who are against their current government “morally compromised” is real reprehensible for someone sitting in an armchair. Hoping foreign power can help overthrow the domestic lord is nothing new. That’s literally how the U.S. gained its independence with French military assistance.

And to your point, US interventions saved South Korea, Kuwait, Grenada, Bosnia, in addition to Panama. The legacy of Vietnam is complicated with the country rejecting communism, becoming capitalistic, and embracing the U.S. in recent years. This is in stark contrast to countries like North Korea. We don’t know how Iraq and Venezuela will turn out in the current timeline either.

Even more problematic though, is the fact that many of the US interventions happened in countries at the brink of free fall. These are failed states who are more likely to experience turmoils with or without the U.S.. Yes, civil wars can be worse than dictatorship. But that’s one of many possible outcomes. Avoiding all changes due to the fear of the worst potential outcome is weirdly privileged view. Kurds in Iraq can attest to this. Iraq has become much better for them nowadays because the Saddam era was pure hell. They were desperate and any alternative was thought to be better.

However, I don’t think intervention in Iran necessarily serves the US interest to begin with. So sure, I agree with you that the U.S. really shouldn’t waste more time in Iran.

Looks like an interesting article, but it’s paywalled. Would love to read it. Do you have a different link or can you summarize it?

From my conversations with Iranians, they know regime change is a long shot. But what are they to do?

Anti-regime Iranians literally feel like that their country was hijacked by an Islamic theocracy. 40+ years of status quo has done nothing to change that.

So yes, they enjoy seeing the regime being bombed. Do they really expect a revolution? Maybe the tiniest sliver of hope in their heart believes in it. But that’s better than nothing.