Why Iranians may not overthrow Mullahs

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On June 13 Benjamin Netanyahu urged the “noble people of Iran” to grasp their “freedom” from the “evil and repressive regime.” Four days later Reza Pahlavi, Muhammad-Reza’s 63-year-old son, who lives in the U.S. and is considered by his supporters to be Iran’s rightful monarch, issued a call for a “nationwide rising…now is the time to reclaim Iran.”

Yet, in the face of such appeals, and mounting evidence that this embarrassingly one-sided war can only end in defeat for the Islamic Republic, the people of Tehran haven’t rushed into the streets to rebel. Why?

For all the detestation that millions of Iranians feel for the Islamic Republic, they have more pressing things to do than launch a revolution at the behest of people sitting comfortably thousands of miles away. While their cities burn, Iranians are on the move—provided they can get hold of gasoline—driving into the hills or toward the Caspian coast, filling summer houses or piling into the homes of generous-hearted strangers, where they hope they will be safe from an Israeli onslaught that has not spared residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure....

But there is a more fundamental reason for Iranians’ rejection of these calls to rebel. Revolutions that are orchestrated by foreigners are tarnished with dishonor and treachery. This is especially true in Iran—and for precise historical reasons. On three occasions since the 1920s, the interference of foreign powers has had a detrimental effect on Iran’s politics, leaving behind a deep skepticism toward those foreigners that claim to have Iranians’ best interests at heart and, equally, those Iranians who ally with them.

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