Kylie Moore-Gilbert on Iran’s future

Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert believes Iran’s regime will likely reconstitute itself rather than transform into the liberal democracy most Iranians hope for, warning, “It’s going to get very messy and it’s not going to get resolved quickly.”

Moore-Gilbert, who spent 804 days wrongfully detained in Tehran’s notorious Evin and Gharchak prisons, told The AJN she believes US President Donald Trump may have to make a deal with the remnants of the regime.

“What I hope will happen is that the regime somehow overnight in Iran transforms into a thriving liberal democracy. I think that’s what most Iranian people want, but I don’t think that’s a realistic scenario,” Moore-Gilbert said.

“I can imagine that they will make some accommodation with the remnants of the regime. Most likely it will reconstitute itself in some form, a much less threatening form internationally, but the bad guys still have all the guns and I think that will sow the seeds for further uprisings and further protests down the track if that happens.

Moore-Gilbert described feeling “shell shocked” watching events unfold at unprecedented speed.