Forty years after the revolution, the Tehran regime seems to have achieved one of its most ambitious goals: creation of a “Shiite crescent” stretching through Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, with Iran dominant all the way to the Mediterranean. But the would-be hegemons neglected one crucial element: the millions of people they mean to rule.
Protests against Iranian influence these last two months forced out the prime ministers of Lebanon and Iraq. Meanwhile, months of demonstrations in Iran have focused on the money the regime wastes on its foreign adventures — at the expense of Iran’s own people. Those internal protests showed public fury at a level not seen since the shah was deposed in 1979.
In a sideways way, President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal helped drive Iranians’ anger. It meant hundreds of billions of dollars for the regime — but the people never saw the money.
No, their rulers used the cash to bolster their Hezbollah puppets in Lebanon, to save bloody Bashar al-Assad’s rule in Syria, to arm Palestinian terrorists in Gaza and to fund Shiite militias that help keep Iraq under Tehran’s thumb.
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