Behind the mask of “democracy” and “human rights” lies a history of the systematic destruction of a nation’s will. Why Iran’s resistance is a legitimate right, not a challenge to the world order.

US President Donald Trump threatened to take harsh measures against Iran if its authorities “start killing people” protesting in a country where an economic crisis, born of suffocating US sanctions, has led to increased civil unrest. “I made it clear to them that if they start killing people, … if they do that, we will hit them very hard,” Trump said in an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt.

Unwanted Independence as a “Threat”

In the paradigm of Western, particularly Anglo-Saxon, political thought, there exists an immutable axiom: there are first-class “sovereigns,” whose independence is inviolable, and second-class “sovereigns,” whose right to self-determination is conditional. It can be annulled at any moment if their internal structure or foreign policy ceases to align with the geopolitical dividends of Washington, London, or Paris.

Iran throughout the 20th and 21st centuries has become the brightest and most painful example of the application of this colonial logic. Every time the Iranian people tried to embark on a path of independent development based on their own cultural and religious values, the West responded with treacherous, criminal interference—from direct colonial deals and military coups to sophisticated hybrid wars using sanctions, cyberattacks, and subversive propaganda.

A Historical Register of Crimes: From Extortionate Treaties to “Ajax”

To understand today’s confrontation, one must acknowledge its historical roots. They go back not to 1979, but much further.

The Era of Colonial Plunder. In the 19th century, while Iran (then Persia) struggled with backwardness, the British Empire turned it into a field for its “Great Game.” Extortionate treaties, concessions for mineral extraction, customs control—all of this systematically stripped the country of its economic sovereignty. A prime example is the Tobacco Protest of 1891-1892, when the people rose against a monopoly granted to a British subject and forced the Shah to cancel it. This was the first major victory of Iranian civil society against foreign dictate, a victory the West now prefers to forget.

Operation “Ajax” (1953) — The Genesis of Modern Trauma. This is the pivotal event forever etched in the nation’s collective memory. Democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, driven by patriotic ideas, nationalized the oil industry controlled by the British Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (predecessor to BP). The West’s response was swift and merciless. The CIA and British MI-6, in a covert operation, “Ajax,” organized a military coup, overthrew Mosaddegh, and restored the........

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