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OPINION:
Now that President Trump has cut the head off the murderous Maduro regime in Venezuela, he should follow it up with another promised move: supporting the people of Iran in their fight for freedom.
Few bedfellows are as cozy as Tehran and Caracas have been in the past few decades. Under Hugo Chavez and Mr. Maduro, Venezuela had become a terrorist breeding ground, giving shelter to extremist groups, including Hamas and Hezbollah, which operated unimpeded from the South American nation.
As Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli wrote on X on Saturday, “Maduro didn’t run a country, he ran a criminal and drug empire that directly fueled Hezbollah and Iran.”
So who will be in charge now? Mr. Trump said over the weekend that Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez will get first right of refusal for the job, but that if she doesn’t plan to work with the administration, she should “get out of the way.”
Whether she goes along with Washington or not, Ms. Rodriguez is not exactly a Girl Scout. In 2018, Trump Treasury 1.0 sanctioned her, along with other Venezuelan officials, “for taking anti-democratic actions and violating human rights.” She is also under sanctions from the European Union, Canada, Mexico, Colombia and Switzerland and has been implicated in at least one corruption scandal.
In Iran, the choice to replace the current government should be somewhat clearer (though the Trump administration has stated its support for the Iranian people in choosing their own leadership): exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi.
The son of the last shah, who was overthrown during the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Mr. Pahlavi is eager to take the tiller. He has even prepared a 100-day transition plan in anticipation of the fall of the Islamic republic.
The highest-ranking Iranian official ever to visit Israel, which he did in 2023, Mr. Pahlavi is an ardent supporter of the West, secular democracy and women’s rights. He has lived in the U.S. since his family was forced to flee Iran 46 years ago this month, and he has been educated and married and raised his three daughters here.
There is some concern, generally from those who opposed his father, that Mr. Pahlavi would not “really” rule democratically, but whatever form his government would take, it would surely be an enormous improvement over the status quo. Iran’s “supreme leader,” the elderly jihadi Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has presided over the murders of about 45,000 Iranians since seizing power in 1989. (Think about that for a second: The man has had nearly a full RFK Stadium’s worth of human beings put to death.)
Executions in Iran reached new highs last year, hitting a fever pitch after the bold and successful American and Israeli strikes against Iran’s nuclear sites and closing off the year at more than 2,200 state-sanctioned killings.
This year is off to a similarly bad start. Some 10 days ago, the Iranian people rose up and began to protest their nightmarish government and in-the-toilet economy, courageously staging demonstrations in more than 200 locations across Iran. On Friday, Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social that the U.S. was “locked and loaded and ready to go” in defense of the protesters should Iranian officials kill any of them.
As of Sunday, the protester death toll was up to “at least 19,” according to the nonprofit organization Iran Human Rights. The time is at hand. Let’s see whether the administration makes good on its brave promise.
• Anath Hartmann is deputy commentary editor at The Washington Times.
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