Trump Declares Iranian 'Killing Has Stopped' After Protests, Ignores US History
Al Jazeera reports that Donald Trump announced 'we’ve been told killing has stopped' in Iran, just a day after issuing a vague threat of 'serious consequences.' The implied narrative is that a stern word from the American leader magically halted internal state violence. Conveniently omitted from this self-congratulatory assessment is the lengthy shadow of US involvement in Iran, from the 1953
CIA-orchestrated coup that overthrew democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh to decades of sanctions and destabilization efforts. The US has a documented habit, according to sources like 'All the Shah's Men' by Stephen Kinzer, of fueling fires only to claim credit for extinguishing them (or at least, for their temporary pause). It’s a peculiar brand of statesmanship that claims to
stop 'killing' in a nation while simultaneously applying crippling sanctions that have led to medicine shortages and economic hardship for ordinary citizens. One might wonder if the 'killing' Trump refers to includes the slow, systemic violence of economic warfare (or perhaps, the killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani by a US drone strike in 2020). The constant refrain from US leadership
about 'stopping' conflict often sounds suspiciously like a prelude to intervention, rather than a genuine concern for human rights. Are we to believe that the ebb and flow of state-sanctioned violence in every nation is directly responsive to White House pronouncements, rather than complex internal dynamics exacerbated by external pressures?