Both the Dissident and Caitlin Johnstone have laced into an open letter published in The Guardian calling on Iran to change its internal policies, a letter that does at least recognize that Iran is in a difficult position:
On the other side, you face the aggression and violence of the very imperialist and Zionist forces the Islamic Republic purports to stand against. The US and Israel instigate brutal wars, destroy civilian infrastructure, kill innocent schoolgirls, and treat you as collateral damage in their pursuit of regional dominance.
The letter positions people in Iran as between the 'scissor' blades.
The Dissident opens with:
https://the307.substack.com/p/questions-about-the-shady-anti-iran
As the U.S. and Israel continue to wage war on Iran, the Guardian published an open letter signed by a number of academics- mostly U.S. and UK-based- condemning Iran’s internal policies.
And points out a few 'shady' aspects of the way the letter was signed and published.
Caitlin Johnstone doesn't like the whole framing of the issue that the letter implies:
https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/its-obnoxious-for-westerners-to-criticize
I still find myself fuming at the way ostensibly well-informed individuals can stand right in the heart of the empire denouncing its targets, as we saw in the open letter that a group of left-wing western individuals addressed “to Iran’s political prisoners” framing Iran as a “source of oppression” equal to the US and its allies.
Meanwhile Peter Oborne (a former Spectator political editor and author of the book Complicit) writing for Zeteo UK has this to say:
https://zeteo.uk/p/exposed-the-rabidly-islamophobic
Exposed: The Rabidly Islamophobic Magazine at the Heart of the British Establishment
For almost 200 years, 'The Spectator' stood for civilised, bravely heretical discourse. But a new report reveals how it now spews out anti-Muslim hatred week after week to its upmarket audience.
Naturally, The Spectator does not like Iran.
Ironically, the rise of Islamophobia in the UK is precisely because the UK did not do what places like China, Iran and Russia would do: crack down on external forces (and Islam is an external force) before they usurp your culture - not wring your hands after you have allowed it to happen. It's not wholly the fault of Islamists that the UK is afraid of Islam, it's mainly the fault of the UK state that allowed Islam to grow like a cancer within it when Islam was clearly a culturally alien external force.