✝️ A Holy War Against Iran?
Mehdi on the Republican religious nutjobs pining for Armageddon in the Middle East. Plus: the latest on the Iran school bombing and, for once, a disgraced Republican is shamed into quitting politics.
🚨 Join Mehdi and Team Zeteo for a LIVE conversation with Academy Award-winning actor Riz Ahmed and special guests in New York City on April 9 – secure your tickets before they sell out!
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Good morning! Mehdi here, back from a quick trip to Canada, where I gave a talk to students at the University of Toronto about rising authoritarianism here in the United States. But it’s not just an American problem. Did you know that nearly 1 in 3 Canadians don’t object to having a strong leader who doesn’t bother with elections?
In today’s ‘First Draft,’ it’s not Iran’s religious zealots we should be worried about. Plus, it was indeed the United States that bombed the elementary school in Minab. Disgraced GOP congressman Tony Gonzales drops his re-election bid. And – surprise! – gas prices are on the rise.
The Real Religious Fanatics Behind the Iran War
For decades now, every time the subject of Iran has come up in the United States, we’ve been told a familiar story.
It’s a story about religious fanatics. Apocalyptic ideologues. Madmen who mix theology with geopolitics.
And that story hasn’t changed at all since the United States began bombing Iran last weekend.
What did US Secretary of State Marco Rubio say about the Iranian government on Monday?
“That entire regime is led by radical clerics who don’t make geopolitical decisions. They make decisions on the basis of theology, their view of theology, which is an apocalyptic one.”
To be fair, the Islamic Republic of Iran is a theocracy run by clerics. Its leaders do invoke religion to repress dissent, and have merged mosque and state to justify their authoritarian rule.
But here’s the inconvenient truth that American politicians and pundits choose to ignore: The most influential religious zealots driving the current conflict with Iran are not in Tehran. They’re in Washington.