Amid the Iran conflict, Charlie Kirk’s views on the country have resurfaced. Turning Point USA shared a video of Kirk talking about Iran, with a caption including his quote, “If you are serious about actually protecting human rights, you should want to make Iran Western again.”
In the video, Kirk said, “How much do you actually know about Iran? Persia was a great power and then Iran took a turn for the worst. Interestingly enough, there was the Shah of Iran and then the Shah was displaced by Mossadegh. Mossadegh was democratically elected.”
“Now, to be very fair, the United States and Britain got rid of Mossadegh and then we reinstalled the Shah. Bad decision, which then led to the Iranian revolution where radical Islam took over Iran. Look at some of these pictures of what Iran used to be,” he added.
Read More | Iran-US talks likely to resume: Trump says ‘agreed’ after Tehran’s offer via Oman
Kirk went on to praise Persians as “wonderful people,” adding that some of his closest friends are Persians.
He further said, “We should have a heart for the Persian people to try and have a better future. Regime change is very difficult to talk about. I actually don’t like talking about regime change. It’s very complicated, but understand that there can be brighter days ahead for the Iranian people. Just look at some of these pictures of how beautiful Iran used to be, how beautiful Tehran used to be. It’s very easy to kind of sit in your Western armchair and be like, oh, Israel’s terrible.”
“Well, you were able to enjoy free speech rights and a lot of rights here in the West that Iran used to have,” he added. “If you are serious about actually protecting human rights, you should want to make Iran Western again.”
Charlie Kirk’s stance on Iran
Publicly available speeches, interviews and writings from Kirk, over the years, indicate that he frequently voiced strong support for Israel and advocated a hard line against Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Kirk publicly backed US sanctions on Tehran, criticizing what he described as appeasement policies.
Read More | US Embassy in Bahrain issues chilling warning amid missile strikes, ‘Hotels might be a target for attacks…’
Kirk previously criticized the Iraq War as strategically flawed. He also maintained that Iran must not acquire nuclear weapons.
Kirk, 31, was allegedly shot dead by Tyler Robinson on September 10 during an appearance at a campus event in Utah. The shooting happened around 12:20 pm local time during a student Q&A at UVU in Orem, per a statement from Utah Valley University (UVU).