![Protests in Iran continue [image via: unknown Iranian wikimedia]](https://staticr1.blastingcdn.com/media/photogallery/2017/12/31/660x290/b_502x220x82/protests-in-iran-continue-image-courtesy-unknown-iranian-wikimedia_1756505.jpg "Protests in Iran continue [image via: unknown Iranian wikimedia]")
The uprising in Iran is in its fourth day, as of this writing, and rumors abound of armed clashes, regime officials fleeing, and demonstrators being shot in the streets. However, even the most horrific events are not without their comedy element, in this case how former Obama officials are reacting to the events taking place in the Islamic Republic. Remember that the Obama administration pursued a relentless policy of appeasement toward the Tehran regime, which including ignoring people when they protested in 2009-10.
Philip Gordon has some advice for President Trump
Philip Gordon was an assistant Secretary of State and White House coordinator for the Middle East during the Obama administration. He also has some advice for President Trump about the uprising in Iran, which is to follow the same policy that the Obama administration did and say and do nothing. The theory is that if the president lends support for the struggle for freedom by the Iranian people, it will give the Tehran regime a pretext for calling the uprising an American plot and for cracking heads and shooting people. The flaw in that argument is that the mullahs did those things anyway in 2009-10 when the Obama administration turned their backs on the People Of Iran.
Ben Rhodes and John Kerry beclown themselves on Twitter
The Iranian people are rightfully demanding dignity, less corruption, more opportunity, and greater control over their lives. In looking at US twitter, it seems lost on too many that this is about what Iranians want for Iran, and not about us.
— Ben Rhodes (@brhodes) December 31, 2017
Ben Rhodes was Obama’s Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications and was an advisor for Iranian policy, which is to say appeasement, John Kerry was Obama’s second secretary of state.
Both went to twitter and had some deep thoughts about the Iran uprising. Both believe that the situation is an internal Iranian matter and that the United States should just not get involved.
With humility about how little we know about what's happening inside Iran, this much is clear: it's an Iranian moment and not anyone else's. But the rights of people to protest peacefully and voice their aspirations are universal and governments everywhere should respect that.
— John Kerry (@JohnKerry) December 31, 2017
What Trump will likely do instead
The president has a lot of qualities, good and bad.
One of his better qualities is his lack of interest in taking advice from people in the previous administration who made such a hash of Iranian policy with their stance of appeasement. Trump has already offered his support on Twitter. Both the State Department and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley have echoed America’s siding with the Iranian protesters.
One suspects that the government is already providing covert support for the Iranian protesters. The first order of business will be to restore some measure of Internet access, cut off by the Tehran regime, to make getting news out about what is happening on the ground easier. Then all depends on how far the people of Iran want to go, whether they want to stage a campaign of civil disobedience to make the country ungovernable or go full out into insurgency. In either case, the United States should ignore the failed hacks of the previous administration and do the right thing.
