Nowadays, the U.S. government walks weakly and carries on a big schtick, and it’s not impressing hostile foreign powers. An Iranian government website is attacking Donald Trump—and announcing the “decline” of America. Considering Iran is hostile to the U.S., that seems ominous.
The official website of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei published an article at the beginning of the month—May 2—which attacked former U.S. president and current presidential candidate Donald Trump. The piece, by Foad Izadi, associate professor at the Department of American Studies, Tehran University, also claimed America is in “decline” and cited the bureaucratic “swamp.” It is important to note that the Trump administration ended Barack Obama’s Iran deal, saying it “enriched” the terrorist-sponsoring Iranian regime and allowed it to “preserve nuclear research and development.” At the same time—May 2018—Trump re-imposed economic sanctions on Iran. “The Iran Deal was one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into,” Trump said.
It is not surprising, therefore, that the Iranian government hates Trump. But it is interesting that the Iranian government is attacking him while he runs for president again, and simultaneously claiming that Trump was elected because of America’s decline. Joe Biden’s foreign policy has been a series of mistakes and outright disasters—and he has pandered to the Iranian regime more than once. So it’s not shocking, unfortunately, that Iran sees America as weak right now. But it is worrying, because the Iranian government is a state sponsor of terrorism with a history of targeting Americans. Khamenei himself has called for the deaths of Trump and other American politicians before. Their disdain could be dangerous.
The May 2 piece published and promoted on Khamenei’s website claimed:
In the remarks of the Leader of the Revolution on April 4, 2023, a point was raised regarding the issue of bipolarity in the US. The issue goes back to the 2020 elections…This bipolarity continued in the 2022 congressional elections…
In recent weeks, the issue of the indictment of Trump has also been discussed. The indictment was issued when Trump announced that he will be the Republican Party candidate in the 2024 elections. This shows that political problems and tensions still exist in the US and no solution has been found for them. One of the reasons that these problems remain unresolved is the lack of a strong system in the US that would have the final say which would be then implemented in practice.
This problem has been established within the political structure of the US and the degeneration of that country’s policies, which is why the issue of bipolarity persists and there is also no clear future. Also, in order to better understand why this bipolarity was formed and why a person like Trump became the president of the United States, it is necessary to refer to a point that had been already mentioned several times in the remarks of the Leader of the Revolution in the past years, and that is the issue of “decline of the US.”
Izadi went on to claim that Americans “have also realized that their country is in decline and they are in a dire situation” and that the “rate of decline is very rapid.” That’s why Americans elected Trump — because he offered solutions to our decline, Izadi said. Like much propaganda, Izadi here has a grain of truth—the Obama administration openly espoused a policy of managed decline. To turn that around, Americans elected Trump. And the economy and America’s position on the world stage became stronger during the first years of Trump’s presidency. But interestingly, the Iranian government wants to convince Americans that Trump was a mistake. Izadi said (emphasis added):
Now, what Trump did in practice and how this swamp of corruption that was in Washington expanded during the Trump era is another issue…In the meantime, another group of American people knew that the solutions presented by Trump would not solve the problem. They too believed that the US is in decline, but at the same time, they believed that a person like Donald Trump cannot solve the problems…
The US has had problems in the past too. However, due to its thefts and lootings from different countries, there were enough financial resources, or let’s say a buffet table, to compensate. Around this proverbial buffet table gathered individuals from across the political spectrum, and they didn’t quarrel with each other very much. But now, due to the decline of US power in various political and economic fields, those financial resources have diminished…Trump himself is the outcome of that bipolarity…America’s problems go beyond Trump’s controversies. Even if Trump dies tomorrow, these problems will persist.
Ultimately, the situation we are witnessing is the result of America’s weakness — a weakness that increases day by day and will persist. The US is gradually changing from a superpower in a unipolar world to a normal country, and it is losing its superpower status.
Iran seemingly wants Americans to believe we cannot reverse our current worsening situation, which is false. But the article provides food for thought. Does the Iranian government really believe America is in a “dire situation,” or is this mere propaganda? And why is the supreme ruler of Iran promoting blatant attacks on Trump right now?
After all, Khamenei’s website published a video last year saying “Death to America” is one of his regime’s “main slogans.”