Who would I vote for if I were American
By: Saeed H
Tags: Qasem Soleimani, Jcpoa, Iran, Trump, US Elections

Who would I vote for, if I were American

America, intertwined with love and hate. As we were growing up in Iran we were taught to both love and hate America. It wasn’t intentional, every problem we faced was being attributed to the U.S and everything that we aspire to do was originated in the U.S. This mixed feeling is still within the country even among those who say America is bad from dawn to dusk, the revolutionaries. They send their children to educate and live in the U.S but their whole career was based on hating America. You may call it hypocrisy but believe me, they are honest in both loving and hating America.

Our life in Iran has been vehemently affected by politics in The U.S. so it’s common for Iranian youths to have awkwardly enough knowledge about how the US election is done. Form the electoral college to the extent that big cities in the US regularly vote for Dems and people in rural areas would probably vote for the GOP. I have seen so many commentaries about the US election regarding age and gender analysis done by my fellow Iranians. So I can confidently assure you that Iranians in the Middle East have way more information than any nation in the region. nowhere is anyone able to find a nation that is more involved in US politics than Iranians.

since Donald Trump elected there was a growing sense among oppositions in Iran that he might be the one who actually believes that this tyrant regime must go. finding an ally in the white house regardless he has never ever mentioned that the regime should be toppled was so promising.

In January 2018 there was a mass protest against the regime in Iran. After 4 decades finally, those who want the regime in the dustbin of history hit the streets to demonstrate their resentment chanting death to the dictator and calling for the son of the late Shah to return. It was shocking for many people in Iran, especially for academics. some people that were in the most marginalized part of the society finally shout out load that they don’t want the regime. Their most famous slogan that changed the political spectrum in Iran was “ no to Eslah-Talab no to Osol-Gara”. Two significant parties that so many people including me believe they are all in hand to hand to control the society, not to cause any real change. Up to now we still don’t know how many people were killed or arrested but a few dared to come out and declared that their loved ones are dead or under arrest.

In November 2019 Iranian people again flocked to the streets to protest against the surge in Gas price up to threefold, infuriated many in Iran. Within a few hours, more than one hundred cities became the battle between protesters and security forces aka IRGC. The regime was in full panic. they shut down the Internet nationwide and the most horrific crackdown in the modern history of Iran happened. within three days 1500 to 8000 protesters killed by snipers. since then there is colossal sadness among Iranian and many lost their hope that we cant prevail.

less than 2wo months after that massacre the United States army assassinate the most prominent military figure in IRGC, Qasem Soleimani, which is responsible for the demise of protesters. The regime has always portrayed him as a hero who averts ISIS from dominating us but many believe that Soleimani as a top commander of IRGC, responsible for Iran’s hostile policy against Isreal, and fallen protesters, deserved to be wiped out. not only did he not a hero he was the most adamant general in Iran that devoted his entire life to annihilate Isreal which the Iranian people have no business in it.

These major incidents plus Trump’s withdrawal from Iran deal aka JCPOA convinced so many people that a combination of foreign and domestic pressure will propel the regime to kneel. I personally think this is the major reason why Iranians support Donald Trump. So if I were American I would vote for Donald Trump.