Iran's populist moment

Will the Iranian regime succumb to a revolt — and should America help?

Protests in Iran.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Nine years after Iranians last took to the streets in mass protests, it's happening again. Over 20 people have already died, and in a possible replay of the crackdown in 2009, the government has now called out the Revolutionary Guards to suppress the protests by force. The world is watching and debating whether this time the regime is finally at risk of falling — and what will come next if it does.

Answering that question in any definitive way is not possible. But advocates of American action to support the protesters are already trotting out hoary talking points comparing Iran to Poland in the Solidarity era, or South Africa in the waning days of the apartheid regime. If the protesters don't have the power to win on their own, these Iran hawks argue, America has to put its thumb on the scale of freedom until they do.

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Noah Millman

Noah Millman is a screenwriter and filmmaker, a political columnist and a critic. From 2012 through 2017 he was a senior editor and featured blogger at The American Conservative. His work has also appeared in The New York Times Book Review, Politico, USA Today, The New Republic, The Weekly Standard, Foreign Policy, Modern Age, First Things, and the Jewish Review of Books, among other publications. Noah lives in Brooklyn with his wife and son.