[andy_ppp]

To be fair they have kidnapped quite a few British/Iranian citizens including Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, they are effectively a religious dictatorship and a majority of their own people hate their government who I think have banned dancing in public and have arrested people for making TikTok videos, amongst more serious crimes. I’m not exactly sure the Iranian government are particularly nice people.

[GordonS]

Keep in mind that there is a huge Western media and government bias against Iran, in the US in particular.

I'm not saying the Iranian government doesn't do bad things - it absolutely does, though you could (easily) argue that the US has done far worse. Hell, you can also (again, easily) argue that the US and UK are largely responsible for many of the past wrongs of Iranian governments.

As a singular anecdote from 21 years back, I spent a couple of weeks in Iran way back in 2000 (my father was working there as a geologist for an oil company and I joined him during the summer holidays) - things seemed very different than I'd been led to believe. I felt completely safe wandering Tehran alone, and everyone I came across seemed extremely friendly and curious. They seemed to know how their country was portrayed outside of Iran, and wanted to show me otherwise. People talked freely about politics too, expressing likes and dislikes just like any western nation. And the food, my word the food...

[robbiep]

Don’t make the mistake of confusing the position of the people of a country with the position and views of a government/regime.

Iran is a remarkable place with a highly educated population. Of course they’re nice and friendly and curious, most people in most countries are. The Iranian people aren’t the enemy (re: prevailing paradigm of thought from the US), it is the regime. And let’s face it both governments severely dislike each other, the destruction of the US is literally a rallying cry of the Iranian regime

[Udik]

> the destruction of the US is literally a rallying cry of the Iranian regime

Not quite. What they chant is roughly equivalent to "down with". On the other hand, the US has damaged Iran so much that you can't blame them for being very angry at it.

[andy_ppp]

They are kidnapping and executing journalists- has this happened in the US or UK recently? https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2021/01/12/op...

[visarga]

No, US keeps their "special friends" in Guantanamo, keeping US soil clean. That's democracy in action and respect for the constitution, unlike lesser countries.

When the US kidnaps people they call it "extraordinary rendition" so you don't think it's just a simple kidnapping + torture. It's extraordinary somehow.

And Guantanamo is not the only one. https://www.google.com/search?q=abu+ghraib+photos&tbm=isch

[GordonS]

It wasn't my intent to start a nationalistic or whataboutism flame war. History speaks for itself.

My point is simply that things are absolutely not as black and white as we are led to believe, and the whole "axis of evil" rhetoric was ludicrous.

[nix23]

Thinking about Guantanamo...

[k1m]

This article by Nazanin's husband, Richard Ratcliffe, is worth a read. The UK's role is rarely discussed:

"As Iran sentences Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe to a further two years in Iran, her husband outlines why the UK’s secretive, unaccountable arms trade is a danger to British citizens and why his family remains haunted by an unkept promise made by the UK government."

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-05-01-nazanins-...

[andy_ppp]

So persecution of random citizens on made up charges is okay?

[croes]

But why are they a religious dictatorship in the first place? Khomeini was the reaction to the support of the Shah by western governments. They replaced one evil with another.

[ljm]

They're also a direct product of US and British intervention.

This government didn't install itself.

[nix23]

>dictatorship and a majority

Brought (unwillingly) into power by the US once more:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27%C3%A9ta...

>I’m not exactly sure the Iranian government are particularly nice people.

One could say that about the CIA and the US-Government too.