An oppressed people are, once again, lured onto the street only to have their hopes dashed

March 6, 2026 — 5:00am

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They always celebrate. In Iraq. In Libya. In Venezuela. Now, in Iran. This is the natural response of those living under authoritarianism to news their tyrant is gone. So much is loaded into the moment. Like releasing a breath that has been held for decades. The birth of a dream. The flash of infinite possibilities. Again and again, those dreams are dashed.

Sometimes they are ground into the dust. Witness those who celebrated in Kabul, Afghanistan, when the Taliban was routed in 2001, only to see the organisation return to power after 20 years of incessant violence. Sometimes the country gets torn apart, as we saw in Iraq, where the legacy was the rise of Shiite militias, the horrors of Islamic State, and the material consequences of power blackouts, water shortages, and a quarter of the country impoverished. Sometimes the country simply implodes, as has happened in Libya, which is now the theatre of an unabating civil war.

The Trump era has delivered a different version – a more honest one – where at least these hopes are dashed from the beginning. That’s what we saw in Venezuela, when America snatched Nicolas Maduro from his bedroom. After the briefest, most vague flirtations with the language of democracy, Donald Trump made clear he had no interest in the Venezuelan opposition, and that he would leave the regime in place.

Now, it seems we’re seeing something similar in Iran, where Trump has swerved from talk of regime change, and instead stated an aim confined to crushing Iran’s military........

© The Sydney Morning Herald