As of the writing of this story, our country is still bombing Iran.
The war isn't popular with the American people or in most countries around the world. However, it's hard to deny that Iran is an authoritarian, terrorist-supporting regime. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killed in the bombing, was a brutal dictator who had no respect for the ways of a Western-style democratic republic. Many Iranians living outside their home country celebrated his death with champagne and dancing in the streets. For them, his demise represents a better future. Their sentiment is shared by millions in Iran who want the theocratic regime to collapse so the country can move on.
But some held a different view. In his story, "The Dangerous Martyrdom of Khamenei: His death Will Strengthen Tehran," writer Arta Moeini stated: "he (Khamenei) was a religious symbol for Shi'ites worldwide. His assassination -- by US-Israeli bombs during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, while fasting and overseeing wartime resistance planning -- instantly transcended geopolitics and entered the realm of sacred myth. For supporters of the Islamic Republic, the symbolism is nothing short of miraculous, and among the Shiite population worldwide, it instantly resonates within their collective memory." He also said Khamenei's death evokes the assassination of Imam Ali, the first Imam of Shi'ism and a central figure in the sect's political theology.
Western leaders don't seem to understand the significance of the assassination. Khamenei was elevated overnight to the status of Imam-e Shahid -- the "martyred saint," said Moeini. In Shiite political theology, martyrdom converts political defeat into moral victory and transforms fallen leaders into sources of mobilization. It mythologized Khamenei among his followers, and there are millions of them.
Moeini said that Khamenei's death is unlikely to achieve political moderation in Iran. Instead, his successor, now Mojtaba Khamenei, might make the state even more extreme, and it might seek nuclear weapons as a defense mechanism. Even more nuclear arms in the world? Scary! In addition, bombing the country is unlikely to bring about a post-theocratic Iran. Moeini said: "they (decapitation strikes) consolidate regimes by supplying precisely what they lack in times of internal strain: a unifying external enemy and a mobilizing myth."
For now, and Moeini pointed it out in his story, it looks like the Islamic Republic will survive. We've yet to see the Iranian military move over to the side of the majority who want the theocracy condemned to the scrap heap of history. Is there a lesson for the US? Yes, wars are not a valuable conduit for spreading Western-style democracy. I would have thought we'd learned that after our adventure in Iraq. For some, President Donald Trump represented a less trigger-happy form of foreign policy than previous Republican presidencies, but on Iran, we can see a continuity with the past!
Jason Sibert is the Lead Writer of the Peace Economy Project
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