Do you know what happened to the Left in Iran?

Yes, I do. Do you?

Mohammad Mossadegh was the peaceful, progressive prime minister of Iran, who fought against British colonialism and for the benefit of the people. The CIA removed him from power and installed a literal monarch, who could be more easily placated with bribes to keep the oil flowing. The shah spent decades hunting down and exterminating the Iranian left.

Mossadegh and the shah were both Muslims, both led secular governments, but one stood up for what was right for the common people, and the other sold out the country to foreign powers for wealth and power and secured that power by hunting down any perceived opposition. Look at any people, any religion, and you will find examples of both types.

When the decision was on the Iranian people, they supported Mossadegh. When it was on the West, they chose the shah.

Eventually, the shah could no longer maintain control, and with the left having been the main target of political repression for decades, only then did the conservative clerics come to power. But people look only at the present day, without bothering to learn the history of how things became that way, and as a result they spout all sorts of idiotic nonsense about how "Islam is incompatible with democracy," when it was the West that suppressed Iran's democracy and installed an autocracy.