Just some context: If the Iranian regime falls this is actually a good outcome, even if it has backing from western interests.

Having said that, up until now Western governments have largely ignored the plight of the Iranian people, leaving them to fend for themselves.

If this isn't fake news and the lithium deposit is real and then suddenly Western governments become interested in helping the Iranian people, it won't be because of some kind of altruism. It will be to get easier access to the resources.

It's still a good outcome, but if it happens I don't think it will have came from the good will of western governments.

> If this isn't fake news and the lithium deposit is real and then suddenly Western governments become interested in helping the Iranian people, it won't be because of some kind of altruism. It will be to get easier access to the resources.

s/ lithium / oil /

.. and now we're looking at the 1953 Iranian coup d'état in which the US and UK deposed a democratically elected government to prevent them poking into the details of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) and exposing the degree to which Western goverments were "helping" the Iranian people (err, sorry, themselves) with resource royalties.

That led to 25 years of despised western puppet government and an eventual overthrow that over compansated and lurched backwards into theocracy .. leading to today.

Even sadder, the US tried to claim it was because of communism. When it was basic nationalism. Communism has historically been the reason. Muslim also fits the bill ala the differences between PK + BG treatment vs India.