Will Canadians say no to a U.S.-led military intervention in Iran?

Quick Overview

The discussion concludes that there is no immediate Western military intervention in Iran regarding the current protests, despite calls for it, as the West prefers to avoid empowering the exiled Pahlavi faction and focuses instead on supporting domestic Iranian dissent through sustained, non-military means.

Key Points: No Western military intervention in Iran is currently being weighed by leaders, despite calls for regime change, because the West fears empowering the exiled Pahlavi faction. Desmond Cole highlights Western media's tendency to frame the protests narrowly, focusing on the monarchy's opposition narrative rather than the broader, more nuanced demands of the Iranian people. HRANA reported that between the start of the protests (September 2022) and January 8th/9th, 2023, at least 7,000 people were arrested, with over 11,700 injured and over 7,000 deaths confirmed under the regime's crackdown. Samira Mohyeddin notes that the Iranian diaspora protests have coalesced around the figure of Reza Pahlavi, son of the former Shah, but points out that many protesters inside Iran do not support his return to monarchy. The Canadian government, despite supporting the Iranian people's struggle, has imposed sanctions on seven individuals tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iranian state entities, but has refused to rule out future military strikes. Mohyeddin suggests that the current protests are fundamentally different from the 1979 revolution as they are driven by diverse groups (workers, women, minorities) and are not solely focused on replacing the regime with a monarchy, but rather on achieving democracy and human rights. The ongoing media focus on the exiled Pahlavi faction risks minimizing the genuine, grassroots nature of the internal Iranian struggle.

Context: The Breach Show episode features host Desmond Cole interviewing journalist Samira Mohyeddin about the ongoing protests against the Iranian regime, which escalated following the death of Mahsa Amini in September 2022. The discussion centers on the scale of the government's crackdown, the nature of the opposition's demands, the role of foreign powers like Canada and the US, and the risk of Western media narratives oversimplifying the movement by centering the exiled monarchist faction led by Reza Pahlavi.