Iran Archives - The Hayek Council

22Apr 2026 by Martin van Staden

Pahlavi Is Iran’s Man: The “Fractured Opposition” Excuse Is Dead

Excerpt This moment is rare. I am not Reza Pahlavi fanboy – my interest is exclusively with the liberty of the people of Iran. The worry is that those with the power to effect change are selling out this prospect of freedom by gaslighting the world about how popular politics works. The people of Iran should not be betrayed because Pahlavi is not “popular enough” yet – he is plenty popular for the purposes of this endeavour. The Islamic Republic’s fractures, exposed further by the 2025-2026 strikes, leadership losses, and ongoing protests, have created a once-in-a-generation strategic opening. A free, secular Iran would be a moral triumph: the right of a people to self-determination without the boot of ideology on their necks. It would also deliver immense strategic gains for…

10Apr 2026 by The Hayek Council

SPOTLIGHT: NATO Blinked – Europe’s Hesitation on Iran Undermines Western Deterrence

Fox News, Opinion, Spotlight

Synopsis In this op-ed, former US Ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, argues that the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and key European allies “blinked” in the wake of US and Israeli strikes against the Iranian dictatorship, revealing a dangerous reluctance to stand firmly with Washington DC and Jerusalem. Sondland contends that true defence in 2026 cannot mean passively waiting for the next attack - it requires decisive action, unity, and credible Western deterrence against a regime that has waged a 47-year campaign of hostility, including proxy attacks and threats to Israel and international shipping. Sondland defends President Donald Trump’s frustration with NATO, pointing to chronic burden-sharing imbalances, European legal hand-wringing, and a tendency to create political distance rather than offer immediate operational or political support. He warns that…

10Apr 2026 by Nicholas Woode-Smith

The New Axis: Iran

Opinion

Excerpt Iran is not merely an authoritarian state with internal abuses. It is a revolutionary regime whose survival depends on repression at home and chaos abroad. Violence is not a failure of the system. It is the system. The same institutions that shoot protesters in Tehran and Mashhad direct terrorist proxies across the Middle East, exporting instability as a matter of doctrine. It is therefore essential to separate the Iranian regime from the Iranian people. The millions who have repeatedly taken to the streets at enormous personal risk are not enemies of the free world. They are among its most courageous defenders. Women tearing off their veils, students defying clerics, and workers striking in the face of bullets represent a moral struggle that aligns naturally with liberal democratic values, not…

26Mar 2026 by Martin van Staden

The West’s Responsibility in Iran

Daily Friend, Opinion

Excerpt The realists oppose support for uprisings before they fail (which itself then guarantees failure), and then lament the failure as solid proof against action. The “no plan” complaint only holds if we pretend the alternative – doing nothing in January – was cost-free. It was not. The regime had already demonstrated its willingness to slaughter its way to survival. By refusing even limited support then, the West ensured the very (overstated) “vacuum” it now decries. Ethically, the bloc now has to make the best of a bad situation rather than pretend its hands are clean. Read in the Daily Friend.

Tag: Iran