Janatan Sayeh

Let's look at the protest chants for the past years.

When Iranian civil society and ordinary Iranians were protesting, I'm not talking about regime-affiliated demonstrations that are displayed on propaganda.

When ordinary Iranians go out, there's not been a single chant about US sanctions.

there's not been a single mention of somehow the U.S.

is a great saint.

The most prominent chant, and I actually remember saying this myself personally, that has been very vibrant, is that, quote unquote, they are lying to us when they say the United States is the enemy.

Our enemy is right here, meaning it's the Islamic Republic.

So that form of propaganda is not really working out.

They see how life functions in the West.

They look at their own lives.

They know they're being lied to.

The sort of animosity towards Israel or America is not really there because it hasn't worked.

This narrative of working in the shadows and trying to defy the Western order, trying to somehow work with sanctioned entities such as Russia and China, that has not played out.

They see that eastern bloc, if you will, of North Korea, the axis of aggressors,

as the losing game.

They don't want to have a life like an average Russian.

They want to really aspire to have a life more so like what we see in the West.

So because of that, I don't really see a scenario where post-regime change, you're going to see this level of animosity.

Of course, there's going to be criticism of every foreign policy decision made by different countries.

But that said, this anti-Americanism that's so inherent to the Islamic Republic is not going to be their post-regime change.