“They See Him as Their Only Hope”: Why Some Iranians Are Backing Trump

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“I think the Iranian people, whether you like it or not,”

whether I like it or not, completely trust and believe in Donald Trump. Welcome to the Tararapal Mary Show. Over night, Iran chose a new leader, Mojtava Kemeni. He's the son of the country's former Supreme Leader,

and many fear he could prove even more hard-line and dangerous than its father,

which raises a very critical question.

If Iran's leadership is doubling down, can the US afford to pull out now just because gas prices are rising at home, and it's becoming very politically unpopular to be involved in a foreign war? My next guest says, absolutely not. There was of course many people saying I can't take my kid to the doctor,

the eras filled with smoke, even those people didn't say stop. Imagine being one barred in your screaming no ceasefire.

“Mojtava is an Iranian-American entrepreneur, investor and activist.”

She's a former CEO of BeautyCon, who's held senior positions at Condonaz, mind-sharing her. She's also a prominent voice and advocate for human rights, and a democratic form of government in Iran.

We're going to talk about all of that,

and more, whether that's possible. She's also the founding member of the Iranian diaspora collective, Mojtava, thanks so much for joining the show. There's so much to discuss this weekend. Now that Iran has a new supreme leader in the sun.

It's for having me. Yeah, thank you for coming on. So we have Mojtava, similar name, Kemeni, who is the son of the former supreme leader, Ali Kemeni, and you know, President Trump is that he's not acceptable,

that his reign won't last long. What do you think of, what do you think of the Mojtava and the new leader?

“So first and foremost, thanks for having me, I think, you know,”

this is like an incredibly, like, painful, complicated surreal, also exhilarating time. Is that going to make any sense to people who are not Iranians? Iranians are, you know, what's right now? We're kind of weird.

We're have to happy, have anxiety, have crying, have jubilee to it. It's so, so, so, so, emotionally and regulated. Most of us terrifying, this is like the worst outcome for the Iranian people at the American people, in my opinion. He is a younger, more equipped, at least Robin A.

He is in his mid-50s. He's extremely close to the IRGC. In fact, it's been said that he's been directing the IRGC since about 2009. So that means he directed the IRGC through the green movement. He directed the IRGC through the 2019 massacre and uprising.

A few thousand people were killed in 2019, and then 2022 famously, Gina Massamini, or they killed the young Kurdish woman. And the country rose an outrage. Hundreds of people, thousands of people were murdered, disappeared. And then obviously, this last massacre, you know, according to the US numbers,

we can cite 36,000, according to people in the country that cut the numbers are, you know, north of 50, another 50,000 in prison, and 80, some 1000 injured. And so, he's terrible for us. He's terrible for everybody. He's very, very, very ideologically religious.

He is very focused on a continuation of what Iranians call hominiism, which is a real break from traditional Islam or the Muslim faith, which is disbelief that there is a 12th Imam that returns, you know, when the Islamic Republic is able to conquer Jerusalem, which is like why they're so obsessed with that spreading their ideologies from Iraq to Syria, to Lebanon, to Gaza, to Palestine.

And so, yeah, no, this is not good news for everybody. And I hope he is a short lived in the last Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic. Yeah, I'm so sorry to get that. I have been around Persian friends this weekend who also feel all sorts of feelings of hope, but we're very much disappointed by this news. So, should be expect anything different. You're saying it could be more oppressive,

more brutal. I think it will be. I think that I think if the Islamic Republic was going to pivot

their signal that they will die fighting and they will take their people down with them. And so, this is very bad news for the Iranian people. And I also hear people saying that this is an

outcome of America attacking Iran. He was always going to be the next Supreme Leader.

“I think people should rest well knowing that Israeli and American government”

have done nothing to create this. He was always going to be the next Supreme Leader. It's been said and rumored and he has been rumored for this. So, there is no world. I mean, the only other person I think they were considering was Khomeini's grandson. So, I mean, like, we're not. This is not. It's not like they were going to choose some sweet, nice Imam from a mosque who was here to move forward human rights and resolve the grieving sort of

country. They chose hardliners. There are only choices for hardliners. And unfortunately, this hardliner also has an intense mobility to direct the military, which, you know, in the past,

Khomeini was never, you know, that hand in hand combat, but I think I think his son will be.

Yeah. No, it's, uh, so we should be actually gearing up for an oppressive regime. If he can survive, I mean, there is obviously a chance that he'll be assassinated like his father. So, I guess for me, I'm wondering how important is it that Trump went over the support of the Iranian people to, you know, perhaps moment a coup or help them choose their next leader? I mean, is there is there a way to create democracy with most chaba there? Or does he need to be assassinated? What's your

“thing? Well, I think the Iranian people, whether you like it or not, whether I like it or not,”

completely trust and believe in Donald Trump. Oh, wow. They, they are, they see him as they're only hope. I know this is so crazy to say for someone. I mean, I think if you're in a desperate situation, that makes sense. He's the only president that has done something to actually hurt the regime. Everyone else has helped the regime. Joe Biden helped the regime. President Obama helped the regime, you know, George Bush supported Saddam Hussein, which ultimately, in a lot of ways,

without the Iraq war, the regime would have never survived that first decade. So, as far as Iranians

are concerned, he's the only president who has ever done anything to help the Iranian people because every other president has not even acknowledged the suffering and oppression of the Iranian people. In fact, they've washed it so that they could make their deals, whether it was JCPOA or Joe Biden sent billions of dollars to Iran and Iraq to continue to support their energy needs. And so Iranian people, whether Americans like it or not, whether I like it or not. They love they are in strong,

they have conviction and hope for Donald Trump that he comes through for them, because they believe him when they say that help is on the way. So, this is a tragic situation

“because you either heed to the request of the Iranian people right now, which is I think I”

put it up on my stories. I had hundreds of people reach out to me to say begging that the American government is real, not stop, even with the oil fires, even with the fear of bombardment. There was of course many people saying I can't take my shit to the doctor, the air is filled with smoke, even those people didn't say stop. They said, what if it doesn't change? Can you imagine? Now, imagine being bombarded in your screaming no ceasefire.

It's another level of desperation. I can't even imagine. Do you have family there in Iran still? I do. I do. Yesterday, I had one of the most surreal moments of my life where there's an activist on the ground that we support and we was a couple of their people, you know, we've secured some star links. And my mom is in her red sevenies and been having a complete meltdown because my aunts, kids, my aunt, passed away a few months ago and my aunts

kids who are pretty much like my sisters, you know, we can't reach them and none of, you know, we can't reach her. Two older sisters, we can't reach any of our cousins, we can't reach anybody. My aunts wife just went back a couple months ago. So my we called, I called my mom

And we had to, in order for him to connect us, they had to believe that he wasn't regime

“and that he knows us. So we had to tell him all the things that my aunt loves, even though”

she's dead like apple pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. And then when he connected them, it was like the most awful crying I've ever heard in my life. It was choppy and broken up, but it was like desperate for both parties like my mom and my cousins to make sure that each other was okay because my cousins are terrified that my mom is going to like have a heart attack out of concern and my mom is terrified that them and, you know, their baby and everyone else is in harm's way.

And so it reminded me of every single phone call I've listened to for my parents to my home country since I was a kid because first it was with pay phones, then it was with calling cards,

you know, and it's always been, you know, if you know immigrants, you know, they talk really

loud on the phone out of habit because it's like, I'll be like, hello, hello, like, and it's like always like so loud, even with a VPN, and I find it's like in an in and so listening to my mother calling to them, like, is if she's still on a dial-up, you know, it was just gunning yesterday. Like, I just wondered what I would say to people when they asked me like, how is your weekend, you know? I'd be like, good, like, but like, now, like, not good.

So yeah, we have a lot of family there, so this is personal for us. I'm so sorry to hear that. You know, it's really, really, really, really stressful. Very stressful. Yeah. This is your fault. All you can do is drink. Sorry, go ahead. No, no, I was just asking if they supported raise up how lovely the former son of the, the shop. They very much do. They very much do. They believe he's the only transitional leader that is out there. They're counting on him to

“partner with on the ground coalitions and leaders. I think we have a real issue right now where”

we need America to do a couple of things. If I was speaking to the president, my ask of him would be

to first and foremost, be extremely careful with his words. When he talks about compromising

territorial integrity, when Lindsey Graham talks about bombing the shit out of the Iranian people, they need to be very mindful that they are talking to a scared public to trust them. They need to be talking to those people as if they are in care of them. They need to not be hitting any civilian location. You know, whether that school girl, um, the school that was hit was whether or not it was on an IRGC military base or adjacent. It's a relevant. We need to be extremely careful right now.

With the trust they run in people. We need to restore the internet Elon Musk needs to call direct. He needs to activate that. People have been asking begging him to do this. Thousands of Iranians, I know of email to him. You know, people I know personally have asked him. Elon Musk needs to activate the internet for the Iranian people so that they can report on this themselves. Um, we need to stop talking about war and start declaring that we're in a transition

of regime leadership. And then announcing that we support Resopalavi and that we are going to free political prisoners because the people we're going to write the next constitution of Iran are inside those prisons. Whether it's Nasserine, Soutou de, or Nacris, Mohamedi, there are many Nobel Peace Prize winner and laureates people who have been accredited worldwide for their academic work and constitutional law and human rights. Those people, imagine if Ruth Grinsberg was in prison

today. You know, uh, these people need to be freed. They are absolutely capable to work with Resopalavi to really form a coalition of transition. You know, he is the leader that is who the Iranian people trust, that's who they died for. And the American government has an obligation

“this point to responsibility to protect. And at this point, I believe anything less that regime”

change is one of the most negligent things that the American government will have ever done. They have to see through this transition, leading the Iranian people in the hands of a more extreme supreme leader and a military that is going to unleash all of their fury all over their people is beyond unacceptable and unforgivable. Yeah, I mean, Trump is not supportive raise out though. He does not think he's an acceptable

leader. What do you think about that? Is that concerning to the people who do support him?

I think it's supporting, but who knows with President Trump? We never know what he thinks or what

about what the Iranian people believe. Maybe he has an issue with someone that doesn't want to take

control as much as he would like. But the reality is Iranians are very paranoid of any type of

dictatorship in this moment. And so they do need a leader that is engendering trust. He doesn't they do, you know, the Syrian leader wouldn't work right now. You know, you know, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, you know, is engendered a lot of trust with his people. So there's this confidence there. What we need is a trust building exercise for the Iranian people because what they're terrified

“of is something more extreme. And so I think he's the best person because he has a coalition with”

all of the international community at this point. Whether or not they support him, they know him, they understand the Iranian prosperity project. We know what that plan is. We understand the logistics.

He's Matt with Steve Woodkov. I think American needs to take control of the situation and stop

acting like. We're not the big kid on the campus here. We are, we are in control of, you know, military supremacy around the world. We are economics, privacy around the world. And I think right now are negligence to take control in this region and just simply set forward policy. I think what we've done in the Gulf States is probably correct where we have really had a strong hand getting them beyond this 9/11 moment. Whether that was bringing forward economic stability,

military stability. And, you know, if you look at the amount of expats in those countries right now,

“it's outstanding, right? And so I think America has to take on bringing that same energy to Iran now.”

Because if Iran does not get stabilization from the West, it is going to get control from China and Russia. I think, unfortunately, American people maybe don't know enough about geopolitics, but this is really about China, Russia, without Iran, is no Ukraine war. And I think it is one of the most, when I hear Democrats protesting this war, it boils, boggles my brain, because we should support war, but because we should support transition and regime change.

And the Democrats, myself included, because I have to take responsibility for myself. I was a part of that. We brought this on. And so at this point, we cannot embolden China. I think Taiwan will be gone in a matter of 12 months if we do not push for regime change. And so at this point, either America becomes an ally to the West, or, I'm sorry, Iran becomes an ally to the West. Seeing with, you know, UAE, Dubai, Qatar, right, we need out that ally ship.

Or they become even deeper, bigger partner to Russia and China. And I don't think we can afford to do that. This isn't some small country. This is a huge country with a lot of resources. And if we leave them without regime change, those 92 million people, they will go back to despising the United States of America.

They will never forgive us. Yeah, I mean, I think, you're right. I mean, they're 90 million

people in Iran. This is not like going into Venezuela and taking out Maduro and then replacing him with, with Delsea Rodriguez, who is obviously still part of the same regime, but more willing to work with the U.S. is much more difficult. I mean, she's really a US. She's willing to stay out diplomatic, you know, part, you know, are diplomats. I think the reality in the, when people say it's not Venezuela, that's right. We're talking about a religious ideology here. This is a political

religious, Venezuela doesn't have a call to end Israel and end America. They don't chant that in schools. Iran does. And I think people laughed this off and they think it's not serious. It's serious. It's an actual serious thing. Cannot have a country that magnitude irresponsibly out there as an open asset has to be partners. And when people talk about exploitation, oh, America wants to exploit the oil. But you would rather have China and Russia exploit the oil? Make it makes sense. Make it makes sense

why you would rather have 55% of that oil going to China. You're cheap. I get $30 a barrel. I don't think people suddenly understand whether Iranians want to or not when you grow up in the West. These are the things you learn about at the dinner table. So, I mean, you're obviously aware of this political tides. They decide wars. And American people don't have a strong appetite for war in the Middle East. And this war seems to be expanding every day. President Trump says it could be

weeks until it's over. He's suggesting that he's going to put troops on the ground.

“Intelligence reports say the only way to actually get to uranium reserves and to destroy the nuclear”

program is to actually have boots on the ground. He's also warning that there could be counterstrikes in the U.S. that we could face, you know, acts of terrorism. People are fatigued from the war in Iraq

I think they said last week that it passed price throughout 27 cents since then. Trump says

“people just need to suck it up. It doesn't matter. It'll be temporary. I think Trump sees it like”

you do, but I also think he's very sensitive to political impact. And obviously, we're heading into the midterm elections. Are you concerned that the American people are turning on the war? And they don't want this and Trump will pull out quickly. And it will leave around impossibly and even more precarious position than it was in before the end.

I think as an American, we're always worried about war. The last thing we ever want to do

is send our troops in harm's way. I think that that feels more serious to me as an adult than it ever has in my life. It gives me a lot of sorrow to think that any troops would put themselves in harm's way. I think about this six or seven service members that have been lost already and my heart breaks for them and their families. I think that the 15% oil spike right now is a temporary

“outcome. I think that that's more about the markets than about reserves. I think that that tells”

you all the more reason on why we need stability in this region. That this country has been reaching havoc across Iraq. 500,000 people dead in Syria. I think about all those drone strikes, Barack Obama approved. Think about what's gone on in Palestine. Think about all of those people in lives lost because of this great, this group. I blame this group. And so in my mind, Democrats have kicked this can down the road for decades. It is hurt American policy worldwide.

It's hurt us with China. It's hurt us with the crane and Russia. I don't believe we would be here with, we would not have shipped billions to Ukraine. If Iran was not defending Russia and sending over all those drones, right? So I think we have a terrible situation where, you know, the bill has to now be paid. People want to say it's on Trump. I say it's on every president on before Trump. Every single president had a hand in this. I don't love saying that he's the only president

that's taken a hard stance on this situation, but he is. And I think at this point, we have an impossible decision. We either protect midterms and political, you know, outcomes, or we do the right thing and push for a regime change. And if the Democrats continue to say absolutely no support for regime change, no support for the Iranian people, this is about, you know, everything else but that,

I think there are some of us that will never forgive them. And I think maybe they just think

that's collateral damage and so be it. But I think for American people, Donald Trump, you know, President Trump, he needs to do better job of messaging really what this is about. Instead of saying this is about taking nuclear and ballistic, he needs to simply just acknowledge we're pushing for regime change. We didn't push for it in Venezuela because we got what we needed. We had a cooperative leadership, you know, they're not religiously ideological, you know,

they are ceasing to do business with China and Iran because again, I don't think Americans understand, Venezuela is who provides all of natural resources to, or not all of, but majority of their resources to China and Russia. So by influencing Venezuela and Iran, we are, for all intense purposes impacting and controlling our China Russia issue and a lot of ways. And so without going to war with them, which I think would be Eons worse than going to war with Iran.

I think rather than being a war with Iran, we need to immediately demand regime change. Americans like us requested the responsibility to protect, which the one could have enacted for the Iranian people, but they did it. I think people have to look at all the failed ways and all of the failed policies, all the ways in which American governments have failed the Iranian people and people think, why are those people my responsibility? Well, what is our responsibility

of energy, stability of war, stability of conflicts around the world? And I think, when you're the United

“States government, you have to assume that that is our role was in the global stage. We have to”

bring stability to the world. We can't let tyranny and dictatorships kind of take over beyond their borders. And I think Iran brought this on themselves the moment, the moment the Islamic Republic decided to start dominating the region versus just staying within their own borders. I think they instigated this themselves, the Iranian people see this 100% brought on by this on my Republic. They don't see it as Israel attacking Iran. They don't see it that way. Well, I think a lot of Americans also say

that we've never really been great at regime change particularly in the Middle East.

for fifty weeks, fifty billion dollars, that he said that that could actually provide free

college tuition for all Americans, which is like the substantial amount of money. I mean, it could be sacrifice to be making. And I know you're saying their broader geopolitical implications. It makes this ultimately safer. A lot of those same arguments were made before we went into

“Iraq and Afghanistan. And I think a lot of Americans feel betrayed by those assessments. So”

we should and I think we should be. And I know I do too. I think one of the things that I think a lot about when I hear this conversation about Iraq and Afghanistan, because I'd thought at length about this is one of the things that gives me comfort is that every single person that was sort of involved in that conflict. I know first hand, especially from the military side, has been brought in to consult on what went wrong and really having conversations around what

it can be different. I think that America's known for our entrepreneurship. I'm not one to believe that we stop trying when we've had failures. We have had successes in other places. We think about the end of World War II where we got involved and we're able to overturn Hitler.

A lot of people always talk about the failures. I think that we did not have partnership in

the Gulf States. We did not have this really intelligence. There's a lot going for us in this moment.

“I think it is incredibly short-sighted of Congressmen work on how to talk about these things when”

he's clearly just buying for votes. He's super duper duper going with the very liberal playbook right now and I'm hearing multiple Democrats do it talking about the end of supporting Israel that these are not our wars. It's very interesting to see the Democrats all of a sudden become isolationist and then the Republicans talk about like local impacting global, the global stage. It's super confusing right now. I don't think diplomacy has done

anything for the American people with Iran. We sent $100 billion from Barack Obama,

JCPOA, to Iran. Joe Biden released another $10 billion in his last administration days after October 7. We spent how many billions of dollars in the Ukraine? How many billions of dollars to Israel? All of this is because of instability. What is the instability of that region? Dictatorships, theocracies, Islamic extremism. We call it homenism, but it is a deeply, deeply anti-western belief and it's militarized. And so at this point, we could either have with Iran

what we have with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, or we Jordan, right, Egypt, which is ally ship of relationship, a business partnership, or we can continue to have a partner in the, you know, of a party in the Middle East that is causing destabilization for all of our allies and we're constantly

“having to foot the bill for that destabilization. And so I think again, Democrats need to just”

own it. I would respect them so much more if they could say the Iraq war was wrong, the Afghans. The war in Afghanistan was wrong. The JCPOA was wrong. Jimmy Carter was wrong, but they don't say that. They just say other people's parts. And so I don't trust them when they can't own their own shortcomings. They didn't do anything during the green movement. They didn't do any, they could have rigid, regime change could have had right then and there. And in the middle of that movement,

Hillary Clinton's gone on record to say this, we had a moment to push and we didn't. So, Democrats, if they want people to trust them, if they want their own party to trust them, which my text messages are filled with Democrats who are ejecting from the party over this, not because they want us to go to war because of the lies that they're telling the public. Yeah, they are not owning their own responsibility in this. They want to say that these wars were

devastating. They were, and so was the JCPOA. How much 15,000 drone strikes were launched at our Barack Obama and Syria. 10s of thousands of people are in mass grace because of head. I mean, there are American people know that. Yeah, I think so again. I do think though I was going to add that there are Republicans, I mean, a lot of the online right and there's obviously Thomas Massey and a few others who are also opposed. The war, although a lot of them are,

there was a vote last week that failed against war. I do want to, I want to be clear. I think everyone wants to be against the war and I think we are against the war. I think what we want is regime change and we want to immediately stop the bombardment, finish the military sites and push

regime change. But then how long do they say that it's just how long do you think it takes? I don't

“know. I think how long is real war? How long do you think America can just stick with it until they”

see regime change? I think that the Israeli intelligence could have listened to it. Given what I've seen

of taking out the supreme leader was in the first 12 hours, they seem to know exactly where these

targets are. So you think they're taking out? Keep taking out one after another after another after another and then let the dominoes fall. I think if they wanted to turn on the internet now, I think if they wanted to open up evane prison now, I think if they wanted to bring forward transitional leadership now, they have the resources to do that. My question for them is why are you doing it? How long do you predict this will go on this war will last? I think given the merit, I think given

the merit and sentiment and midterms, I think it's a matter of weeks, a better be because I don't think the American people will tolerate more than that. What are you looking for in the 48 to 72 hours? I would like them to open up evane prison and get those political prisoners out and I would like Elon Musk to get the internet on and I would like Senator Lindsey Graham and everyone else in this administration to start messaging regime change and protection of civilian life because in this moment

for the American people and the Iranian people to continue trusting them, they need to now take responsibility for not what they started because I don't see them as they started this but they need to finish it responsibly in a way that the American people are not a shame and the Iranian people are not left with a destroyed country and regime still intact to continue their oppression and make it even worse. Wow, Moj, thank you so much for your time, this was fascinating. I feel like we all

“learned a lot with this conversation and social art conversation. Yeah it is. I think everyone understands”

and they feel a huge amount of a lot of sympathy and pain for the Iranian people and they see the destruction that the regime causes and could cause to us. I just think it is hard as an American to buy into another war and it's frightening. I mean the fact that we don't know who bombed a location outside of the Oslo American embassy in Oslo, you know, it just feels like we're heading into World War 3 every day. This seems to become more and more different. I would

really argue that we've been in World War 3. I think World War 3 looks like an information war. I think this concept of bombing World War 3 is not. I think what you've seen in ideology, rhetoric, sentiment against American people. I think World War 3 is much more of a information war and as an American I've been extremely concerned about it and this is I mean listen I'm coming from like a left-modern progressive perspective here, right? But I noticed something

present within our country that I did not notice a decade ago. So I think I think we need to stop. Again, I think we need to not politicians are trying to win elections. I think everyone needs to

“remember that. I don't know that they're always looking out for our best interest, but I think they're”

always trying to win elections and I think in this moment is incredibly complicated to think about putting

US troops in a harm's way, US dollars into conflict. But I think if you look at the analysis, the world's a better place in America is for sure a better place without this regime intact. Thank you so much for your time and I wish having you and your family all the best. Such a huge fan of your work. I'm really, really grateful to be here. I thank you for making a time. Of course, no, we're very, very lucky to have you and that's the block with everything

and it's supposed to be on your family. Thank you. That was another episode of this Harrapal Mary Show. Thank you so much for tuning in. Please subscribe. Just hit that button. Follow like, that's how you keep me in business. Please go to tarrapalmarry.com. Sign up for my newsletter, the red letter and become a supporter of my independent journalism by becoming a paid subscriber. It's a way to get my exclusive reporting straight to your inbox, guys. I don't even

want to mention it, but it's my one year anniversary of going independent as a journalist. And I am so happy to be here. It has been quite the journey and I'm so glad you have been with me. Some of you the entire way. So thanks for all that you do, the comments, the emails you send me, the tips, the support. It really means so much to me. We've been through a lot together. And of course, for all of you who are new, please hit that subscribe button. It means a ton to me. And see you

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