Should the US become involved in helping protesters in Iran?

US military staff told to leave Qatar base as Iran threatens attack

The United States has pulled some military personnel from its air base in Qatar after Donald Trump threatened to intervene in Iran’s deadly protests.

Staff were advised to leave Al Udeid Air Base – the largest US military facility in the Middle East, home to around 10,000 troops – three sources told Reuters.

The move came after Tehran warned neighbouring countries hosting US forces that it would retaliate against American bases if Washington followed through on threats to intervene, a senior Iranian official said on Wednesday.

According to The Telegraph analysis, the partial evacuation of US personnel from its al-Udeid air base in Qatar is the most tangible signal yet that armed conflict with Iran could be close.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/01/14/iran-regime-protests-us-trump-qatar-base/

I don't think it will be simple at all but the overthrow of the Islamists must overall be a good thing both for Iranians and the wider world especially the Middle East.

Lyse Doucet on R4, it might make you cry as she’s so good at relaying the horror for women and people there.

Authoritarian regimes tend not go quietly because their supporters know what the consequences will be for them when they do.

Unfortunately I fear that the extreme Islamist regime will be drawing on their security powers like the Islamic Revolutionary Guard (and possibly the West Midlands Police 😀) to keep them in power.

@Bringemout

Re Iran. I have not seen Balohistan mentioned. The tribal area on the Pakistan/ Iran border. They have been doing terror attacks in both nations as they do their thing.

And of course the Kurds in western Iran. Kurdistan overlaps a few countries.

Post regime overthrow, I fear it will not be as simple as some think.

On the point about whether the Iranians like america or not I would suggest following iranians on twitter, many are amplifying messages from within Iran calling on help from america, also there have been Israeli flags at some of the demonstrations within Tehran. Diaspora Iranians are asking where the americans are. I’m inclined to listen to Iranians on this (not the pro-regime academics they pull out on aljazeera). Of course there are people within Iran who dislike the USA intensely but I don’t think if you are unarmed and getting shot at you are going to fuss too much about exactly who bombs the IRCG. Every non regime Iranian I’ve seen is screaming for help.

I do think Trump promising help pushed more people into the streets. But Iranians have been revolting for decades and being murdered by their regime for decades. Anyone who follows Iranians on twitter will see the backs of women who have been lashed, the skin literally flayed off, in hospital beds after being beaten by basij, photos of dead women and men (and children) who have been killed. This is not new. The west did not create these protests, the ayatollahs did. But it is our fault they are in charge.

I also think the only reference point people have is the war on terror a lot of the time, so they think everything is Iraq. Iraq was completely different, boots on the ground, highly tribal population, generally a lot more religious than Iranians etc etc. I really doubt a post ayatollah Iran is going to be a jihadi factory. I think the big danger in any middle eastern country is balkanisation.

Or more hopefully to the airport. They have friends in Russia and South Africa.

This

I just think he will have encouraged protestors by saying they’ll go in if the regime threatens them, so he’s already been stirring - if those kids now don’t have internet access will they just keep pouring onto the streets to be slaughtered? All of which strengthens the grip of the regime so he’s already intervened and now has to follow up somehow.

They will 100% already be in Iran in some type of way aiding & encouraging the protestors. As others have said dropping bombs will do the regimes work for them.

The Muslim Brotherhood is a Sunni Muslim group, founded in Egypt in 1928.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_Brotherhood

No. God forbid. The US should stay the fuck out of it, or we'll end up in WW3.

"They were criticism for not helping the kurds when Sadam gassed them"

The US were actively helping Iraq gas the Kurds and Iranians in the Iran Iraq war.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/08/26/exclusive-cia-files-prove-america-helped-saddam-as-he-gassed-iran/

Those bastards have had a good run. Time for them to go and let the rich culture that once was to shine through.

It is when they fund groups like the houthis that fire into shipping lanes or try to carry out assassinations on UK soil, or destabilise places that leave us with a wave of refugees

Palestine and Lebanon are fucked up because of Iranian intervention, they also helped assad murder 600’000 syrians, they fund milita in Iraq. They ayatollahs are there because of the the west. The least we can do is rectify this horrible stupid mistake.

Iran fundamentally destabikises the middle east. It’s part of the reason some pro pals don’t want interference in Iran, funding for Hezbollah and Hamas dried up.

That’s one way of looking at it. Presumably you take the same line on Gaza.

@LeedsLoiner @Alexandra2001 just as well you weren't around in 1939 then. Sometimes it just is our circus and our monkeys.

Yep my take too.. we will just make the present death toll a thousand times worse..

Not our circus, not our monkeys...