Donald Trump is right to offer America’s support to the people of Iran seeking freedom from repressive theocratic rule and warn the tottering regime of Ayatollah Khamenei not to attack his own population. Freedom for Iran will come from the desires of the Iranian public, now surging through the streets across the country, not American arms, but keeping the Revolutionary Guard on notice serves the cause of liberty, which is in our national interest.

Standing up for people seeking freedom should always be America’s role in the world and President Barack Obama failed to rally to the side of the Iranians when they went to the streets in mass protests against the crooked election in 2009. Obama was too timid and the ayatollah and the Revolutionary Guard cracked down, preserving the system of tyranny. Now, 17 years later, here is another chance for a better life for Iranians and we must stand by the people in their brave struggle.

Iran under the mullahs is the world’s leading exporter of terrorism and is still trying to obtain nuclear weapons, despite having their nuke facilities successfully bombed by the U.S. and Israel in June. Sitting on the among the world’s largest deposits of natural gas and oil, Iran doesn’t need nuclear energy, but Khamenei covets an atomic weapon in his war against the West (particularly the United States) and for his demented dream to destroy our ally Israel.

Just think how much better for Iran and for the whole world if there was a popular and legitimate democratic government in Tehran more interested in improving the lot of the Iranian people than waging war in the name of religious fanaticism.

That regime has now killed hundreds of Iranians who only want freedom and to express anger where the inflation rate has topped 40%. Isolated economically and diplomatically by tough international sanctions for its terrorism and nuclear pursuits, the regime only wants to preserve itself.

Iran has no more friends. Israel has knocked out Iran’s proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah. Their client state of Syria is no more. Even their Venezuelan buddy Nicolás Maduro is now sitting in a Brooklyn jail. The regime has never been as alone as now.

Exiled Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late shah, is receiving support as people respond to his calls for nightly protests. In response, the mullahs shut down the internet, but still the protests continue and grow, and the killing of protesters mounts. The more the regime kills its own people, the weaker it gets.

Freedom will come at some point to the people of Iran and they will cast off the terror of the mullahs (the internal terror and the external terror) and rejoin the community of nations and the world will rejoice. Everyone should hope that that time has now come. It was 47 years ago this week, Jan. 16, when the shah fled Iran and he was overthrown by the revolution. That revolution is now the oppressor and is killing the people in the streets.

The ayatollah, at age 86 and in power for 36 years, is incapable of reform. In the end, he will lose and the Iranian people will win. The only question is how many he will kill and how long he will delay that day of freedom.

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