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Adieu, Ayatollah

The New York Times Has Been Wrong About Iran for More Than a Century

The New York Times has spent more than a century getting Iran wrong—sometimes through outright distortion, more often through a stubborn refusal to see the board as it actually is. Pull up a chair, maybe grab a good cigar if that’s your thing, and let’s walk through the record. It starts in 1979 and lands right here in late February 2026, with the paper once again sounding the alarm over decisive action while ignoring the century-old machinery that made that action inevitable.

1979: “Trusting Khomeini” – The Original Sin

Back on February 16, 1979—barely two weeks after Ayatollah Khomeini touched down in Tehran—the Times ran Richard Falk’s piece titled “Trusting Khomeini.” Falk, the Princeton professor, painted Khomeini not as the fanatic the West feared but as an honest, defiant leader who spoke his mind without apology. He described the Ayatollah’s inner circle—Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan, National Front figures Karim Sanjabi and Daryoush Farouhar—as moderate progressives committed to human rights and broad-based economic development. Falk waved away charges of religious extremism, anti-Semitism, or “theocratic fascism” as baseless smears, “certainly and happily false.” He predicted Khomeini would soon withdraw to Qum as a spiritual guide, not a day-to-day ruler, letting Shiite tradition’s flexibility deliver social justice and a nonviolent model of third-world governance. The revolution, he wrote, could become “Islam’s finest hour” and show the world what genuine Islamic government could achieve.

We know how that aged. Purges, mass executions, mandatory hijab, gender apartheid, sponsorship of Hezbollah and Hamas, Holocaust denial as state policy—the regime became a textbook theocracy of repression and exported terror. Falk’s optimism wasn’t just mistaken; it was a master class in projecting Western progressive hopes onto a fundamentalist reality.

The Deeper Architecture: 118 Years of British-Centered Control

That same pattern of misreading—or refusing to read—the deeper currents has repeated ever since. The Times consistently treats symptoms while ignoring the underlying architecture: a British-centered financial system that has treated Iran as a profitable franchise for 118 years.

1908: The Oil Concession and the Franchise Begins

It begins in 1908. British speculator William Knox D’Arcy locks down exclusive oil rights in Persia. The Anglo-Persian Oil Company is born; by 1914 Britain owns 51 percent and uses Iranian crude to power the Royal Navy and bankroll empire. Control over pricing, shipping cartels, and banking flows locks in long-term dominance. Iran isn’t sovereign; it’s a revenue engine for the City of London, profiting most when the region simmers with managed conflict.

1953: Operation Ajax – The Coup That Reinstalled the Franchise

Fast-forward to 1951: Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh nationalizes oil, directly challenging the whole setup. Britain and the CIA answer with Operation Ajax in 1953—the coup that reinstalls the Shah. The Muslim Brotherhood stirs street chaos to provide cover. The Shah’s regime keeps the franchise humming, funneling wealth to London while ordinary Iranians scrape by.

1979: Revolution as Rotation, Not Rupture

Then comes 1979. The Islamic Revolution looks like rupture but is really rotation. Khomeini’s mullahs replace the Shah as franchise holders. High oil prices, proxy wars, money laundering through instability, ideological fractures (Sunni-Shia, Arab-Israeli, Iran vs. West)—all keep the cash machine running. Anti-Western rhetoric is loud; the underlying service to London finance is quiet but consistent.

2026: The Last Holdout and the Trump Realignment

For decades Iran holds out as the final piece. Nuclear ambitions and funding for Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis sustain the chaos that pays dividends. Diplomacy fails because the system doesn’t want resolution.

Enter Donald Trump. He dismantles the pieces methodically. The Abraham Accords redraw the map with a “border of peace.” More than $2 trillion in Gulf sovereign wealth gets redirected from London banks into American manufacturing, energy, AI infrastructure, and regional rebuilding. The Muslim Brotherhood gets designated a terrorist organization, severing a key manipulation tool. Gaza gets slated for reconstruction as an economic hub instead of a perpetual flashpoint. Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf monarchies see the upside: peace through construction beats endless conflict dividends for distant bankers.

Vance and Trump Lay It Out Plain

Vice President JD Vance laid it out plainly in his Washington Post interview just before the strikes: “I think we all prefer the diplomatic option. But it really depends on what the Iranians do and what they say.” On the big fear—another endless Middle East quagmire—he was blunt: “The idea that we’re going to be in a Middle Eastern war for years with no end in sight—there is no chance that will happen.”

Trump himself, announcing the operation, spoke straight to the Iranian people: “To the great, proud people of Iran, I say tonight that the hour of your freedom is at hand. When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take.” Targeted, finite, liberating—not occupation.

February 28, 2026: The Times Does It Again

The New York Times responded on February 28, 2026, with the editorial “Trump’s Attack on Iran Is Reckless.” The board called the strikes ill-defined, unauthorized by Congress, contradictory to Trump’s no-new-wars promise, unsupported internationally or domestically, and heedless of law. It flagged inconsistencies in nuclear claims and warned of undefined goals. Sure, it conceded no one should mourn Ayatollah Khamenei’s reported death and cataloged the regime’s horrors—massacres, oppression, terrorism sponsorship—but the verdict was clear: reckless folly.

Sound familiar? It’s 1979 redux. The Times downplays the century of financial control, excuses or soft-pedals regime behavior when it suits the narrative, and casts decisive disruption as dangerous overreach. When the paper isn’t misleading outright, it’s wrong—consistently, stubbornly wrong—about Iran. The board may clutch pearls today, but the record shows the real recklessness is letting a 118-year exploitative machine keep spinning. Trump chose to stop it. History will judge who saw the board clearly.

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James K. Bishop

James K. Bishop is a conservative writer and raconteur hailing from Texas, known for his incisive and often provocative takes on political and cultural issues. With a staunch commitment to originalist constitutional principles, he emphasizes limited government, individual liberties, and traditional American values. Active on X under the handle @James_K_Bishop, he frequently engages his audience with sharp critiques of progressive policies, media narratives, and overreaches by the federal government. His style is direct, often laced with humor and wit, which resonates strongly with his conservative followers.