The soft power playbook hasn’t changed since the Cold War—dump cash into destabilization, wrap it in “democracy” slogans, and watch the chaos unfold. Washington’s obsession with regime change in Iran reeks of desperation, not idealism. Pouring millions into shadowy NGOs and media ops while pretending to champion civil rights is just sugar-coated imperialism.

Of course they’re hiding the recipients. Nothing unites Iranians faster than the stench of foreign meddling. The 2022 protests fizzled precisely because Washington’s usual proxies started waving their flags, turning local grievances into a geopolitical sideshow.

Biden’s funding freeze might be the best thing to happen to US-Iran relations. When your opposition is bankrolled by the same empire that’s sanctioned your economy into dust, even dissent becomes a performance. Maybe now we’ll see if Tehran’s resilience outlasts DC’s attention span.