‘Face-saving’; TRU professor sees dual claims to victory as positive amid war in Iran

The old adage goes, “There are three sides to every story – mine, yours and somewhere in the middle, the truth.” That saying, seemingly apropos for the current situation in the Middle East, with both Iran and the United States claiming victory.

“The devil is in the details. Somehow, we will see what they are going to agree to in this two-week ceasefire,” said TRU assistant professor of political science Saira Bano Wednesday (April 8). “But it’s a good thing both states are claiming victory – it means they both are having this face-saving in this war.”

Bano described the current ceasefire as fragile, adding it will be interesting to see if reported claims of Iran keeping uranium production and charging a fee on tankers through the strait are accurate.

“It means it’s unclear that if Iran would still be allowed to have enrichment and missile capability,” stated Bano. “Which U.S. objective was to have zero enrichment policy for Iran and no missile capability and it seems that U.S. hasn’t achieved that objective.”

Early on Wednesday, Trump posted to Truth Social, saying the U.S. has determined Iran “has gone through what will be a very productive regime change.” Bano highlighted the issue with that statement is it’s categorically untrue.

“This not a new regime. This is continuity of the old regime… the son has replaced father. And now the new regime is more hawkish, more risk-taking, more oppressive,” said Bano.

“As long as the ideology of Islamic Republic is there, there have been no changes,” agreed Ali, who moved to Kamloops from Iran in 2024. “There has to be no Islamic Republic anymore, and in that case we can firmly say there was a change.”

The worry about the lack of a true regime change is potential reprisal against their own people who have been calling for an end to 47 years of oppression. Ali sadly believes the two-week ceasefire will not lead to the end of the conflict.

“The people have been living under terror for the last 47 years. It’s not just about this past 40 days of war – for the past 47 years, people were terrorized, people were afraid of living, people were not secured and people were always under oppression,” said Ali.

by Michael Reeve

‘Face-saving’; TRU professor sees dual claims to victory as positive amid war in Iran

Our Community