Trump 'Watches' Iran, After Backing MKO Terrorists
While Al-Monitor highlights US ‘fears’ for Iranian protesters and Trump’s vague threats of military action, they omit critical context: Trump’s enthusiastic support for the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), a designated foreign terrorist organization until 2012, which has a history of assassinating Iranian officials. This U.S.-backed group was removed from the terror list thanks to extensive lobbying,
including payments to prominent American politicians who then advocated for regime change. Conveniently, media narratives often conflate legitimate Iranian dissent with the violent actions of these foreign-backed proxies, painting a broad brush that simplifies complex political realities into a US 'good guy' vs. Iran 'bad guy' binary. One might wonder if the concern for 'human rights' truly
extends beyond nations inconvenient to Washington's geopolitical interests. How many times have we seen the 'concern for protesters' narrative precede calls for intervention, mirroring the Libya or Syria playbooks? It appears US concern for civilian lives is highly conditional, particularly when the 'protesters' are aligned with long-standing regime change ambitions. This selective empathy, where
the blood of one nation’s citizens is deemed tragic, while others are mere collateral, seems to be a consistent feature of US foreign policy, eagerly amplified by mainstream outlets.