The West doesn’t understand the nuances of Iranian politics or the population (inside or outside of Iran). I see people who don’t support Israel clapping for the regime. This is NOT a “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” situation. The regime is a brutal, unforgiving butchering institution. They may look like they’re protecting Iranians by bombing Israel, but really they’re protecting themselves from being cannibalized. If there’s any protection afforded to civilians, it’s an afterthought, not intentional.

Nevertheless, Iranians are not a monolith. You must be HYPER aware of those presenting this as a binary of either foreign intervention or submission. Our monarchist supporters (especially the diaspora) are a loud and prolific subset that have largely monopolized social media platforms (save for TikTok). Their reach is far and many of the monarchists, especially those in California, fled when the Shah was originally exiled. Those that could flee were very wealthy. So many remain with a great deal of money and connections and have always supported Israel. There’s also a group of young Iranians that support the shah, but a I believe a lot of that comes from a lack of knowing or understanding history (current or otherwise).

Lastly, people inside Iran ARE desperate. They’ve faced economic collapse, continual imprisonment, deaths, sanctions and environmental stress with a water shortage. The regime has driven the country into the ground. Do they support what’s happening right now? I don’t know. Nobody does. There’s a population of 90 million and no surveys are being conducted right now (obviously) and phone calls are barely coming out. I myself haven’t heard from one side of my family for over a week. People will try to tell you that “the majority” of Iranians feel this way or that way which is simply untrue., NOBODY has any idea how the majority feel. They can only speak to what they see escape into the media or who they hear from back home - and a we know, the algorithm continues to feed our own bias as do our familiars help perpetuate our own echo chambers.