Why Americans must learn Iran's revolutionary history: "They will not stand for foreign aggression"

Narges Bajoghli, professor of Middle East studies at Johns Hopkins University, thinks that Trump's tweet threatening to bomb Iran's heritage sites was strategically "a huge mistake" for the U.S. — one that could only have been made by someone who has gravely misunderstood the nature of Iran's revolutionary history. Iran's historic 1979 overthrow of the Shah "was a revolution that was about creating independence and sovereignty in Iran and not having it be under the sway of imperial powers," Bajoghli says. "By claiming to want to attack Iranian cultural heritage sites, [Trump] is now bringing up that sentiment again within the Iranian population that — as much as some within Iran may dislike the Islamic Republic — they will not stand for foreign aggression, especially from the sole superpower in the world, to come and attack their country and attack historical sites that have nothing to even do with the regime."

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