The Islamic Republic Survives

The Islamic Republic of Iran has survived yet again. I followed the Iranian Revolution as it was going on and have seen it's fall wrongly foretold many times.

Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran, from a fifteen year exile, in February 1979. The July 16, 1979 issue of Time Magazine featured a profile of Khomeini and expressed doubt that this "philosopher king" could rule a modern country like Iran for long. They were wrong.

In September 1980, war began between Iran and neighboring Iraq. Iran is larger than Iraq but the general opinion seemed to be that the revolutionary government of Iran, still in the turmoil of the revolution and cut off from America as it's main ally, wouldn't survive the invasion of the Iraqi Army that had been well-supplied by the East Bloc. They were wrong.

In June of 1981 came the Haft e Tir Bombing. At a meeting of the Iranian Government, a massive bomb had been smuggled in. Dozens of the top members of the government were killed. It seemed very unlikely that the government would survive this, especially since Iraq was taking an early lead in the war, but it did.

The war with Iraq went on for eight years, with a horrific cost to Iran in lives, money and property. By 1989 Ayatollah Khomeini, who had been the driving force behind the revolution, was clearly in the final days of his life. There were opinions everywhere that the Islamic Revolution would die with Khomeini, but it didn't.

Since then, according to the Wikipedia article "Ali Khamenei" who had been the president under Khomeini and succeeded him as supreme leader, there have been eight major bouts of protests in the country. The massive protests that have just died down is only the most recent one. Each time observers have predicted that this is the beginning of the end for the Islamic Republic, and each time they have been wrong.

Crushing economic sanctions were placed on Iran but haven't succeeded in bringing down the Islamic Republic.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is battered and bruised and weakened but, as always, it is still standing.

Part of the issue is that secular people do not understand people who are driven by religion. The belief that God is on one's side, or that one is doing God's work, is a very powerful force. I find that so many people have a "nationality" way of thinking and just don't get religion. I have long thought that a religious Christian, a religious Moslem and, a religious Jew have a lot more in common with each other than any of them do with a non-religious person, even if they share the same secular culture and DNA.

Here is a link to "How Secularism Leads Us Astray".

www.markmeeksideas.blogspot.com/2020/04/how-secularism-leads-us-astray.html?m=0