Discussion on Iranian Government and Democracy

But I do have a question, Abdul. My cousin, my cousin was hunted in the streets of Iran by the IRGC because her hijab wasn't on right.

My uncle was sentenced to die, received fifty lashings by Ali Khamenei's government, and the terror that we've experienced is insurmountable.

And you can imagine our surprise as Persians, our sadness when we heard you, Abdul, a leaked audio tape of you saying that you didn't want to comment on Supreme Leader Khamenei's death, and that people in Dearborn were sad when he died.

And I just have a simple question, Abdul.

That silence was a-- had a gaping hole in our community, and I wanna ask if you regret that silence.

I wanna ask if you renounce the people that held vigils, that supported this terrorist for all the stuff that he's done.

I wanted to ask if you stand unequivocally against the IRGC, against the Islamic Republic of Iran that has killed fifty thousand protesters, Abdul.

I haven't heard anything from you about the protesters, Abdul.

Please. I appreciate your question, and thank you.

What I will tell you is this. For too long and too often, when we think about our role in the world, we have turned ourselves into the world's policemen.

And I think what we all want, what we all need is more democracy, more freedom in the world, but also an understanding of what we actually can and should do with respect to that.

And here's my, my, my, my point. One can disagree with the governance of a foreign country.

One can stand in solidarity with freedom and democracy movements.

But my worry is one-- when one decides that we are going to go in and take out the leadership of a foreign government, because here's what happens.

A lot of times that frustration gets used to justify corporate interests that have a real stake in the natural resources in a particular country.

Do you know what I mean? So when it comes down to it, I will always stand for and with democratic movements, always.

But I also don't believe that we were in the right to go to war to topple the government of Iran.

It was not our responsibility to do. It is the responsibility of the people of Iran to decide what their leadership should look like.

And so while I stand with freedom and democratic movements, I also worry that once you start putting our resources toward regime change in foreign countries, more often than not, the regimes that we seek to change are the ones in which there is a natural resource interest,

and it becomes a ploy for the interests of our corporations, and that's what I worry about. Do you know what I mean?

Abdul, we're-- you still haven't said it, though.

We're dying. Heard. The IRGC. Do you stand with us?

And I will always stand. Like I told you, I will always stand with movements for freedom and democracy.

But again, I want to be careful, because how many times were you taken down a path to war that we could not get ourselves out of?

Trillions of dollars in losses, sanctions that ended up hurting the people of those countries more than they ever hurt the leadership of those countries.

And so what I'll tell you is that what I think you want to hear from me is to say, "Ah, well, the US has a responsibility to be involved in regime change."

And what I'll tell you is the re- the, the US has no-- we, we should not be in the business of regime change.

But- -I will always stand with movements for freedom and democracy.

Uh- Do you stand with our movement of freedom and democracy? Ours, the Persians.

I-- Again, and I want freedom and democracy for the people of Iran, no question.

But I want that to be done by the people of Iran coming together as a community to decide how to create democratic change in their society.

So I really appreciate your question. I appreciate your passion, and I'm grateful for the, for the question that you asked.