In 2018, Israeli strategist Dan Schueftan was asked what the best case scenario for Iran would look like.
Schueftan argued that regime change was necessary first and foremost for the Iranian people, describing Iranian society as one of the...
In 2018, Israeli strategist Dan Schueftan was asked what the best case scenario for Iran would look like.
Schueftan argued that regime change was necessary first and foremost for the Iranian people, describing Iranian society as one of the Middle East’s greatest long term hopes.
HOST: “What will be the best case scenario in terms of Iran? Like regime change, and then like a government that is friendly to Israel?”
DAN SCHUEFTAN: “Look, the regime change in Iran is necessary primarily for the Iranian people. The Iranian people, in the long run, are the greatest hope in the Middle East next to Israel, because this is a very able people.
“The Iranian society is very impressive. You have very strong pluralistic elements in Iranian society, even under the present regime. Even this regime did not manage to obliterate these elements in Iran, so that it is very promising.
“And one day, when this regime is gone, Iran will be, I think, a major instrument for stabilizing the Middle East, for modernizing the Middle East, for getting countries in this region to be successful in their attempt to deal with the challenges of the 21st century.
“I have only good expectations from the Iranian society. The only thing that is wrong within Iran is the regime.”
HOST: “Just to be clear, the regime change has to come from within the country, not from outside?”
SCHUEFTAN: “No, no, no. The whole idea of regime change from the outside is ridiculous. We stupidly tried it in Lebanon in ’82. The Americans stupidly tried it in Iraq in 2003.
“The whole idea of changing regime from the outside doesn’t work.
“But when you make economic realities difficult, the first response will be the regime is strengthened, because they say, ‘They’re all against us, and let us unite.’
“But over time, when they have many, many other reasons, the economic reason is just the trigger. There are many other reasons.
“The Iranians don’t want to live under a disgusting, barbaric regime. Iran is nothing less than a barbaric regime, with a people that deserves better and can produce much, much better than this barbarism.
“So this can help. I mean, look: economic pressure brought the Soviet Union down, in the final analysis. Not the niceties of Europe, but the economic pressure that came from the Reagan administration, to a large extent. It was a cumulative effect.”
