The Assassination Of Ali Larijani Exposes US Ignorance

Iran or Persia has often been called the cradle of human civilisation.

With recorded history going back to the Achaemenid Empire (6th century BCE), it was one of the greatest world empires in its times.

With leaders like Cyrus the Great, it was known for its progressive, inclusive, and vivid culturalism. Despite the ravages of time and multiple conquests by foreign forces (Greeks, Mongols, Arabs, British et al) – it retained its civilisational sophistication in terms of language, identity, and thought leadership. Persian literature, poetry, philosophy, and art continued evolving rather than disappearing.

India too is well versed with the refinement of Persian sensibilities with Faarsi having been the official court language during the Mughal era and with the grandeur and unmatched beauty of Taj Mahal (combines Persian symmetry, gardens and calligraphy), Humayun Tomb (Persian-style architecture) or in realm of fine art with the seamless blending of Faarsi terms in Urdu and Hindi, advanced literary culture and philosophy (e.g., Rumi, Mirza Ghalib, Amir Khusru etc.), painting styles, music (Gazals and Poetry), food and even its religio-ethnic-sectarian populace.

In the already enlightened and ancient land of the Indian sub-continent, Persian sensibilities found a natural and fertile ground to flourish and nurture a unique Indo-Persian synthesis to enrich its own rich moorings and traditions.

Sadly the Western exposure to Iran or Persia (especially in the USA) is extremely limited and often filtered through modern geopolitics (that too, selectively) rather than by appreciating its long-term civilizational context. This ignorance has only got heightened and institutionalised with a boorish and uncouth persona of a philistine like Donald Trump at the helm of affairs.

US President Donald Trump has additionally filled his administration with like-minded ignoramuses who would rather pander to hatemongering, xenophobia, and “othering”, with no sense of history, civility, or essential nuance.

The likes of JD Vance, Pete Hegseth, Karoline Leavitt etc., believe in populist and unashamed rhetoric that is completely bereft of any cultural, philosophical, or deep civilisational context, that comes naturally to a people of an age-old civilisation that has been shaped over the millennia, like the Iranians.

Common perceptions notwithstanding, Iranian leadership may be theocratic but it is also deeply rooted in education (that is also secular, scientific and artistic), of introspective traditions, and with intellectual rigour.

However as the West/US has the “monopoly on truth”, Iranians are painted as bigots and religious extremists. While the clergy in any country or faith is inherently discriminatory in nature, it is important to remember that Iran afforded far more tolerance and inclusivity than any other country in the region.It hosts a variety of practicising citizens from minority faiths like Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and unbeknownst to most, even Judaism.

Iran has also significantly expanded women’s access to education and intellectual life, while certainly maintaining some questionable social restrictions – but the constitutional rights, status, and even partaking in the realm of employability, far exceeds any other country in the Middle East.

Even its governance system, Velayat-e Faqih, ensures a modicum of democracy that far exceeds any US ally in the region. While it does entail clerical oversight, democratic elements like elections, political parties (e.g., moderates, reformists to hardliners) all co-exist with controlled participation. So there is a democratic executive structure, unlike Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar etc., But the popular perception in the West is starkly insufficient, unnuanced, and darker, of the Iranian reality, its people, and its purpose.

Today after actively supporting Benjamin Netanyahu’s genocidal killing of nearly 75,000 people in the Gaza Strip – the US has turned its red eyes on Iran. Just as American memory is bereft of historical incidents like the Sykes-Picot Agreement towards the issue of Palestine, similarly the shameful role of the CIA in plotting the 1953 Iranian coup d’etat and supporting the subsequent extravagance of the Shah monarchy, remains largely unknown.

Trump frames his rhetoric on Iran as the “world’s number one sponsor of terror” and has further made contradictory and shifting goals like regime change, preventing nuclear weapons/missiles, to even “unconditional surrender”.

This position is in stark contrast to the likes of Barack Obama who thawed the situation considerably by signing the Iran Nuclear Deal with diplomacy, restraint and multilateralism – whereas, Trump has invoked coercive means, aggressive threats, and unpredictability. Expectedly Trump’s no-holds-barred rhetoric has led to him to call Iranian leadership “a murderous regime”, “corrupt dictatorship”, “ruthless”, “corrupt”, “criminal”, “radical regime” etc.,

Truth is far more nuanced as even though the Iranian regime is far from perfect – it had been reasonably accommodative and engaging in the lead-up to the Iran Nuclear Deal, which was unilaterally torn apart by Donald Trump even though the watchdog agency IAEA had confirmed that Iran had been complying with all conditions.

Today the relentless pursuit of carnage has consumed yet another Iranian leader, Ali Larijani, who typified the gap between reality and popular perception in the West. Indeed, an establishment insider and ideological conservative – Ali was also a mature pragmatist and reasonable negotiator who steered the path to the restorative Iran Nuclear Deal.

In fact Ali was considered moderate enough to be disqualified as a Presidential candidate (in 2021) by the Guardian Council, when the system preferred a genuine hardliner like Ebrahim Raisi.

Ali Larijani was a typical Iranian intellectual who was routinely demonised and wrongly castigated rather simplistically as an evil terrorist. This despite the fact that Ali was neither a military man nor a cleric. Ali Larijani was actually a well-versed professional (former Speaker of Parliament, Secretary of Supreme Security Council, Chief Nuclear Negotiator, head of Media Broadcasting etc.), erudite philosopher and strategist of imminence, as opposed to a boorish and wanton fundamentalist but this was never fronted in the Western media.

Ali was in fact a PHD in Philosophy and had studied Western thinkers like Immanuel Kant. The man of letters had an impressive body of published and cerebral work like “The Mathematical Method in Kant's Philosophy”, “Metaphysics and the Exact Sciences in Kant's Philosophy”, “Intuition and the Synthetic A Priori Judgments in Kant's Philosophy”, “Reason and Tranquility in Governance” etc.,

Yet, he was as the American administration gleefully claims “targeted” and killed in the ensuing war. With that the American-Israeli forces snuffed out a real possibility of any sensible backchannel diplomacy, knowingly.

Subsequent outrage in Iran and beyond, even amongst those who are not necessarily apologists for the Ayatollah regime, captures the mood of the moment.

Trump’s bravado and inelegance has routinely trampled on Iranian pride and dignity and whilst doing so, it barely hides its own ignorance, hubris and vulgarity.

With the war not exactly proceeding as per the ill-advised belief of the Trump administration, Donald Trump is waking up to the hard reality, timelessness and resilience of the inherent Iranian sense of civilisational dignity, continuity, and self-respect, that is far beyond the limited lens of the Ayatollah regime, necessarily.

Lt General Bhopinder Singh (Retd) is former Lt Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands & Puducherry. The views expressed here are the writer’s own.