OPINION: Axe the Ayatollah

Most Iranians want and deserve the removal of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his brutal police state, and there’s no time like the present to do so. In 2022, the courageous women of Iran launched mass protests against their misogynistic theocracy after police murdered a 22-year-old woman for the “crime” of wearing her hijab improperly. Shortly afterward, a 14-year-old school girl was beaten to death in front of her classmates for tearing up a photo of Iran’s “Supreme Leader” Khamenei. The uprising ended after a brutal crackdown, and now Iran is close to building a nuclear bomb, aids and abets Russia, and also smuggles oil to China, bypassing sanctions. American diplomacy failed to find a solution to the nuclear threat, so Israel attacked Iran. President Donald Trump weighs whether to join Israel’s assault, and Iranian critics of the regime urge action. In February, Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian Nobel Prize Laureate and Judge, said: “The regime cannot be reformed, but it is close to its downfall. The Iranian people disagree with the policies of the Iranian government, and once they achieve victory, the foreign policy will change, and a democratic government can be formed.”

The November 2022 promising revolution by Iran’s victimized females was crushed within months.

Most of Iran’s 90 million people want out from under their corrupt and brutal government, but cannot do so until their military is neutralized and leadership eliminated. Trump’s emphasis is on stopping the nuclear program, but negotiations didn’t work and won’t work, and now he “wants an end, a real end, not a cease-fire.” He’s turned up the heat by threatening the Ayatollah on his TruthSocial platform: “He is an easy target, but is safe there—We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now.” Trump has also sent more military assets near Iran and openly advised Iranians to “evacuate Tehran”, a warning that triggered a mass exodus from the city.

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US Military Says It Has ‘Defeated’ Iran Missile, Drone Attacks in Gulf

The US military said it defeated a series of Iranian missile and drone attacks in the Gulf and struck an Iranian military facility on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz. US Central Command denied Iranian claims that US bases in Bahrain and the region were hit, saying all attacks failed. The incidents came despite a US-Iran ceasefire in place since April 8.

All these moves are helpful, said retired American General Barry McCaffrey on CNN. “A mugging of Iran in public to force them to negotiate [about dismantling their nuclear program] raises pressure,” said the General. “Israel has already devastated Iran’s defensive capability to fire against Israel. Iran’s Houthis, Hamas, Hezbollah, and Syrian proxies are in trouble or gone. But the US entering the war with an air attack will have unintended consequences. Iran will try to close the Persian Gulf and attack US facilities, which is why lots of firepower is being flown and moved there.”

However, nothing short of surrender or collapse will help bring about regime change. Israel’s attacks are laying the necessary groundwork for this to happen, and this is not wishful thinking. Such a template worked in Lebanon, where Iran’s Hezbollah terrorists governed for years, politically and militarily, until 2024. That year, Israel’s military gutted Hezbollah’s forces and decapitated its leadership through the use of rigged paging devices that simultaneously exploded, killing or maiming Hezbollah thugs. Elections were held, and a new government was formed.

Israeli intelligence has assassinated Iran’s military leadership and planted weaponry inside the country that can be remotely detonated, as it did in Lebanon. It wants Americans to use their bunker-buster bombs to destroy Iran’s principal nuclear site. But the threat of all-out war with the US and Israel is already working. On June 18, Trump disclosed that the Iranians reached out to him directly and offered to come to the White House to continue negotiations about the nuclear program. “Nobody knows what I’m going to do, but Iran’s got a lot of trouble, and they want to negotiate … Why didn’t he negotiate with me two weeks ago? They would’ve had a country. It’s late,” said Trump. He added that Iran’s ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin, also offered to mediate a peace deal. “He offered to mediate. I said, `Do me a favor, Vlad, mediate Russia,’” Trump said.

Russia played games with the United States in Ukrainian negotiations, as Iran has done. In Tehran’s case, talks ended because international nuclear watchdogs revealed that Iran was lying and was days away from weaponizing its stash of enriched uranium. That’s when Israel attacked and controlled Iran’s airspace within days after destroying most of its nuclear facilities, except for one buried deep under a mountain called Fordow. Many nations, in and outside the region, secretly applaud Israel’s initiative. But Germany’s new Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said publicly that Israel was doing “dirty work” for other countries by striking Iran’s nuclear sites.

Former White House Security Advisor John Bolton wrote that “the only lasting foundation for Middle East peace and security is overthrowing the Ayatollah. America’s declared objective should be just that. The regime’s imperial projects have done nothing for Iran’s people. They have brought only devastation to Iran itself and elsewhere. Untold billions of dollars were spent over decades to empower terrorist proxies (Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis), to prop up Bashar al-Assad’s regime, and to undertake massive nuclear and missile projects that now lie in ashes. Israel, the Gulf Arab states, and the United States can all participate in this initiative. Success is far from guaranteed, but the moment is auspicious.”

The fact that the Ayatollah is a scourge isn’t debatable. Still, Americans and others rightly worry about “mission creep” and that involvement in Iran may lead to another Iraq or Afghanistan quagmire. MAGA guru Steve Bannon and pro-Russia mouthpiece Tucker Carlson told Trump to stop Israel from its war and reminded him he had promised to put “America First” and to avoid “foreign wars” in his campaign. Trump responded directly: “Well, considering that I’m the one who developed ‘America First,’ and considering that the term wasn’t used until I came along, I think I’m the one who decides that. For those people who say they want peace, you can’t have peace if Iran has a nuclear weapon. So for all of those wonderful people who don’t want to do anything about Iran having a nuclear weapon—that’s not peace.”

Israel’s attacks may help bring about regime change. This is what worked in Lebanon, where Iran’s Hezbollah terrorists had a vice grip for years on that country, politically and militarily. But an Israeli military campaign in 2024 gutted Hezbollah’s forces, along with the decapitation of its leadership through the use of rigged paging devices that simultaneously exploded, killed, or maimed Hezbollah thugs. Elections were held, and a new moderate government was formed.

But in 2022, the women of Iran stood up to this hideous government, and many paid the ultimate price. The Ayatollah considers Israel and America infidels that must be destroyed, and his regime must be prevented from building a nuclear arsenal to hold hostage its people, region, and the world. Iran’s “defeat” will also impair Russia, which relies on Iranian-made bombs and drones to massacre Ukrainian civilians. Reports are that senior Iranian officials have fled to Russia to hide along with the Butcher of Baghdad, deposed Bashar al-Assad. And disabling Iran will also disrupt China, which imports 90% of its oil illegally from Iran.

The zealot must go.

Reprinted from [email protected] – Diane Francis on America and the World.

The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.