On February 23, The Institute on Religion and Democracy was pleased to welcome Mariam Memarsadeghi, the founder and director of the Cyrus Forum, the co-founder of Tavaana: E-Learning Institute for Iranian Civil Society, a Senior Fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, and a leading proponent for a democratic Iran, to discuss the recent women-led protests in Iran.
Memarsadeghi stressed in her remarks that a more stable and democratic Iran would contribute not only to security in the region, but it would also further the national security interests of the United States.
Interested readers can view the full talk below:
Comment by David on March 2, 2023 at 7:03 am
Iran used to be a democracy until the US helped to overthrow its government due to a move to nationalize the oil industry. We then supported the brutal Shah for years and now the Iranians do not like us. It is difficult to think of any US action in that part of the world that did not have a bad outcome.
Women formerly had great freedom and enjoyed higher education and entered the professions in another country. That was Iraq under Saddam, hardly a paragon of virtue. This, of course, ended with the US invasion and subsequent turmoil there. Religious freedom was much reduced and many Christians fled the country.
Comment by GinVA on March 2, 2023 at 7:54 pm
I would take Iran under the Shah over Sadam’s Iraq any day of the week.