The Iranian Protesters Need to Hear Our Voices

The Biden administration has been more forthcoming in its pronouncements during the current protests, but it can and should do more. The same could be said of America’s civil society.

The possibility of freedom for Iran’s 86 million people is at stake, but it doesn’t end there. This revolution has been led by women and backed by men who recognize that the oppression of women is central to how the Iranian regime oppresses all citizens. Forced hijab wearing is the Berlin Wall of the clerical dictatorship, argues

Masih Alinejad,

the exiled activist who, evidence suggests, the regime recently tried to assassinate in her Brooklyn home. In the long march toward equal treatment of women world-wide, this revolution could be the most luminous and momentous episode.

There are also security stakes for the U.S. and the world. Iran’s quest for a nuclear bomb sealed Mr. Obama’s lips in 2009. The administration feared that offending Iran’s ruler could impede diplomacy on the nuclear issue. The same consideration is tempering Mr. Biden’s response. But the hoped-for renewed deal, like the original struck by Mr. Obama, would contain sunset clauses, after which Iran would be allowed to resume its bomb-making project. What then? The administration seems to hope that the regime will become less menacing before that time. The current revolution is an opportunity to achieve exactly that by bringing an end to the Islamic Republic, along with its desire for regional hegemony and global revolution and its nuclear ambitions.

An Iranian revolution, combined with Ukraine’s success in repulsing Russian aggression, would change the momentum of global politics. The first decades of the 21st century have been marked by the retreat and retrenchment of Western values. Simultaneous triumphs by the Ukrainians and Iranian protesters would reinvigorate the liberal cause, likely making the years ahead more benign in many parts of the world and safer for America.

What does it mean to be the voice for the Iranians? The regime has shut down or interrupted the internet to isolate people and prevent them from organizing and encouraging one another. Still, news finds its way in and out through cellphones and foreign broadcasts.

The Iranian protesters hope to feel the support of the outside world. We should show ours volubly. Words and gestures matter. The regime has almost all the guns, and the casualties have been preponderantly on one side as the regime tries to frighten the protesters into returning home. So far, the young rebels haven’t flinched and the protests have grown for more than three weeks.

If this continues, the regime could crack. This week some active-duty members of the military and police reportedly aligned with the protesters. If the protesters’ courage holds and the regime isn’t able to reclaim the streets, the authorities are likely to break ranks, including soldiers and police who may sympathize with the protesters and officials aiming to save their own skins.

The Biden administration should make strong and frequent statements of support for the Iranian protesters. Members of Congress should do likewise, through individual statements and Sense of the Congress resolutions. U.S. broadcasting into Iran should be amped up. The administration has allocated resources to enhance broadcasting to Ukraine and Russia. But so far, not to Iran. This should be remedied at once.

Officials, celebrities, and advocacy groups, beginning with American feminists, should embrace the protests. Young women are being bludgeoned to death. Where are the athletes who kneel against police brutality? Where is the Women’s March? Where is the Hollywood social conscience?

Courageous Iranian women, and the men who stand with them, don’t need us to be their voice, but they do need to hear us shouting: We are with you.

Mr. Muravchik is author of “Heaven on Earth: The Rise, Fall and Afterlife of Socialism.”