Iranian American Scholars Denounce U.S.-Israeli Attack, Warn Regime Change Efforts Will Backfire

As the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran enters its third day, dragging much of the Middle East into armed conflict, we speak with two Iranian American scholars about the situation.

“It’s quite a devastating attack on the infrastructure of the country, both in terms of the state infrastructure and civilian infrastructure,” says Golnar Nikpour, associate professor of modern Iranian history at Dartmouth College. She notes that far from leading to a popular uprising against the government, as President Trump has encouraged, the U.S.-Israeli attacks have forced Iranians to worry about their immediate safety from the bombs.

“These attacks are causing much suffering for Iranian people, and it’s destroying the space in which Iranians were struggling for social justice and civil liberties,” says Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi, a fierce critic of the government who was once imprisoned on death row in Iran but who nevertheless opposes the war. “I’m very pessimistic about the possibility of a regime change in Iran without having a clear idea of what is going to replace it.”

According to the Iranian Red Crescent Society, more than 550 people have been killed in Iran since Saturday, when the U.S. and Israel began an intense bombing campaign and assassinated Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. A number of other top Iranian officials have also been killed. Iran has retaliated by launching missiles targeting Israel, as well as U.S. allies across the region, including the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Cyprus, where an Iranian drone hit a British air base. Fighting has also resumed between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.